“Normally when we go to a few races in a year, it’s one week out and one week back, but this time it took three months to get home,” O’Young said via video mid-quarantine.

“This is a sacrifice that leads to some drivers not going to the race. The whole motorsport industry is being affected at the moment – not just racing, but everybody in the world.

“My family means a lot to me and I hope to see them in a couple of weeks. They tell me they miss me every day.”

“In my head, I thought the race was over because that kind of impact generally doesn’t recover,” recalled O’Young, whose car was only deemed fit for the grid by officials three minutes before the final.

“The team went to work right away, stripped the parts back to really see it. The engine was safe but the chassis was bent. It being aluminium, you couldn’t just pull it, so there were a lot of engineers [examining] it via video, saying the chances were about 20 to 30 per cent to make it to the grid.

“We decided to go ahead with it. Basically we cut the chassis leg off, got the one aluminium welder in Macau out of bed to weld a new one, and used our own creativity to reattach it.

“I went to bed not knowing whether I would be able to race the next day. Even at 9 in the morning we had no idea whether we would make it. We only had three mechanics, a data engineer and team manager – normally we have a team of 10.

“All the cars were on the grid waiting to go and ours was still in the pit box with about 40 to 50 people standing around watching, our guys laser focused. I drove out with probably 20 seconds to go. People think it’s an exaggeration but it was literally seconds.”

Bob Hai, brand communications manager of the vehicle’s engine lubrication manufacturer Motul China, had a front-row seat to the drama. “Normally in the paddock we pull [away] and the crowds spread to each team,” he said. “But at that moment the focus was in front of our pit. Journalists, the cameras, the fans. Everyone cheered when the car was running out.”

A perfect start allowed O’Young to overtake weekend leader Leo Ye Hongli before using his 17 years of experience navigating the Macau circuit to fend off the Chinese favourite.

“The race was all about emotions – even people on the grid were in tears,” said O’Young, whose car suffered power steering leaking and smoking throughout.

“It was such a relief, not just the drama from the race, but getting to Macau, the whole build-up, and the team getting me to the grid. They worked 48 hours straight and still had to pack everything up. It was absolutely insane. It led to my first tears after a race.”

Though there was no time for celebratory meals or drinks, O’Young made sure to acknowledge his crew’s efforts by handing them each a subcategory trophy earned from his win.

“It’s something for them to remember this unique event by,” he said. “It took a lot of concentration as a racing driver. This is something a lot of drivers from Asia are dealing with at the moment – it’s probably the hardest-hit zone in the pandemic in the sport, so that led to a lot of us coming up with extra concentration to make it work.”