FAW T2M took the season’s first front row lockout during today’s qualifying session at the Chengdu International Circuit. The Porsche 911 GT3 Rs driven by GT3 points leader Martin Ragginger and Bao Jinlong, and HubAuto founder Morris Chen and Marco Seefried took 1-2 ahead of Kings Racing’s Xu Jia and new recruit Jake Dennis. Andrew Tang and Pan Chao of JRM continued their impressive Beijing and Shanghai qualifying performance to take pole for GTC, with championship leader D2’s CJ Huang only less than 0.03s adrift. Will Bamber and Bian Hao took third for JRM. GT4 saw British GT champion Ross Gunn and Yang Mengqiao of ChinaEquity AMR take their second pole of the season ahead of Team Lotus’ Anthony Chan and Julio Acosta, and The Winning Team’s Roelof Bruins and David McIntyre.
GT3 Class
A sudden shower in the morning has dampened the track during the morning’s free practice sessions, but conditions started to improve and teams were able to fit the car with slicks just before the start of GT3/GTC qualifying. The steady performance that saw FAW T2M’s Ragginger and Bao to the top of the GT3 championship standings again sent the pair to the top of the timesheet for the fourth time of the season, with an average lap time of 1:28.605. FAW T2M’s garage must be the happiest place at the circuit today after the team took a long-awaited but well-deserved 1-2 finish. HubAuto founder Morris Chen and German driver Marco Seefried completed the front row while only 0.277s off the pace.
As the Porsches are taking the start from the front, the Audis set the fastest times. Martin Rump has the GT3’s best time of 01:27.452, 0.333s quicker than the second Audi of Jake Dennis. Dennis and Xu Jia of Kings Racing took third with a time of 1:29.073.
Completing the grid from fourth to eighth are:
Wang Liang/ Martin Rump, Kings Racing
Kuo Kuo Hsin/Maxx Ebenal, D2 Racing
Li Chao/Chris van der Drift, JRM
Xu Wei/Naoki Yokomizo, Kings Racing
Li Jiaqi/Zhang Dasheng, JRM
It is worth noting that all the drivers are separated by only 1.6 second on average times.
*#17 of Xu Wei and Naomi Yomokizo will take a five-place grid penalty for changing the vehicle midseason.
GTC Class
PCCA star Andrew Tang took partner Pan Chao to the pair’s third pole start with a time of 1:32.190 after a stellar performance in Beijing and Shanghai. Current GTC championship leader CJ Huang of D2 suffered a damaged left rear tyre in session 1, but bounced back in the next session to take second merely 0.02 second off the pace. JRM’s Will Bamber, while being the pace setter for GTC, can only take third after co-driver Bian Hao’s lackluster performance in session 2.
JRM’s Wang Tao and Shang Lei, and solo driver Zheng Hui will start from fourth and fifth.
GT4 Class
Perhaps the most impressive takeaway of the day is gentleman driver Yang Mengqiao’s stunning transformation throughout the season. Yang set an impressive time of 1:35.446, almost 2 seconds quicker than the fastest of the remaining Am drivers and very much on par with the professional drivers. Yang, aided by young Briton Ross Gunn, took pole for ChinaEquity AMR in GT4 class. Julio Acosta set the overall fastest time of 1:33.993 in a Lotus Evera and completed the front row with Anthony Chan for Team Lotus. The Winning Team’s McLaren 570S GT4 seemed slightly off-pace for the Chengdu circuit, but Roelof Bruins and David McIntyre managed to take the car into third for the Round 9 qualifying session. The pair currently sits at the top of the GT4 standings with a comfortable lead, but they are not taking anything for granted until finally clinching the championship title.
Finishing from fourth to eighth are:
Billy Lo/Chen Yinian, Xtreme Motorsports
Sennan Fielding/Kenny Chung, D2 Racing
Sam Lok/Clement Li, Team Lotus
Eric Wong, Team Lotus
Zhang Dongqi/Yin Jinge, ZIA FEA Racing
DNF: Rodolfo Avila/Sheng Yanwen, ZIA FEA Racing
DNF: Lin Dewei/Zhou Yong, ChinaEquity AMR
*#618 of Ross Gunn and Yang Mengqiao to start from the back of the grid for causing a collision in Round 8.
Race 9 of GT4 Class will be streaming live on the official @ChinaGTChampionship facebook on Wednesday 4 October at 9:25am, and GT3/GTC Class at 12:05pm Beijing Time (GMT +8). Race 10 of GT4 Class will be broadcasted on Thursday 5 October at 9:55am , and GT3/GTC at 13:25pm.
