HUTCHINSON MAKES RETURN TO RACING AT MACAU GRAND PRIX THIS WEEKEND SMR Performance’s Ian Hutchinson will make his long-awaited return to competition this weekend when he races at the Macau Grand Prix aboard a Swan Yamaha Superbike. The Bingley man, who hasn’t been on a circuit in anger since the end of 2010 after a bad crash at Silverstone put him out of action, will roll out of pitlane at the Guia circuit after three days’ testing at tracks in the UK and has Michael Laverty’s British Superbike crew to back him up. “Obviously, I’d like to say I am going to go and win it as it is the only international road race I haven’t won so I’d like to take the chequered flag but that would be pushing reality a bit to be fair. I have felt more and more at home on the Swan Yamaha as the amount of laps increased and I felt properly on the pace at Donington last time out,” said Hutchinson, who landed at Macau on Monday. “I’m definitely looking forward to being back racing again. I’ve missed so much this year because of the injury and it feels weird for my first race of 2011 to be everyone else’s last. If I can get a good result for the team then I will be happy and it sets me up nicely for 2012.” The Macau Grand Prix is raced on a 3.8-mile circuit in the former Portugese colony on the coast of China in the Guangdong province. Macau was both the first and last European colony in China. Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 16th century and subsequently administered the region until the handover on 20 December 1999. The Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration and the Basic Law of Macau stipulate that Macau operates with a high degree of autonomy until at least 2049, fifty years after the transfer. This year sees the 45th running of the motorcycle race although it is the 58th time the Macau Grand Prix festival has been held.