Macau Grand Prix winner Michael Rutter is targeting further success at Macau after clinching a record eighth victory at the infamous road race in Southern China.

The SMT Honda rider took the lead on the opening lap of the race and went on to secure another triumph on the Guia street circuit by almost five seconds from Martin Jessopp on the Riders Ducati, with Simon Andrews third on his racing return following a heavy crash at the Isle of Man TT races.

Rutter, who moved ahead of Ron Haslam on the all-time winners list at the Macau Grand Prix with his seventh win a year ago, said he hopes to further increase his tally in the future.

“It's fantastic here, the crowd has been fantastic, they love the bikes over here and hopefully it [victory streak] can keep continuing,” he said.

“It's so important round here to get a good start. I've been behind Stuart Easton and a few of the others in the past and it's so difficult if you're behind, so you want to control it.”

Jessopp, who took the runner-up spot in a repeat of last year's result behind Rutter, felt he blew his chance of mounting a stronger challenge after a poor start from the front row of the grid.

“I didn't make it easy for myself with a terrible start,” he said.

“We gambled on a soft tyre, not expecting such a poor start. I got through the guys pretty good, but maybe we dropped off a bit.

“It would have been interesting to see if I could have chased Michael with a good start, but he's the King of Macau so it still wouldn't have been easy,” added Jessopp in the South China Morning Post.

“I was definitely pushing, I was trying hard and making some clean passes, but once the tyre went off a bit, it was clear I wasn't able to catch up to Michael and I settled down a bit - and tried to leave a bit more room between me and the walls.”

Ice Valley BMW rider Andrews exceeded expectations on his racing return following his big TT spill in June as he kept nailed down the final place on the rostrum to earn his maiden podium result at Macau.

“I have to thank all my physios and all my team for letting me do this having been off all year since the TT,” he said.

“I'm feeling it now and I was glad it was 10 laps and not 15, but I enjoyed it.”

The 46th running of the race had been postponed by 24 hours due to rain.

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