Xu Jia clinched the 2017 China GT drivers’ championship in the GT3 category after finishing third behind teammates Wang Liang and Martin Rump, and title rivals JRM’s Li Chao and Chris van der Drift. Xu took five race wins over the course of the season, and his stellar performances also helped secure the teams’ championship for Kings Racing.
CJ Huang, GTC champion since his crucial fifth win on Saturday, went on to add another winner’s trophy to his collection. Xtreme Motorsports’ Billy Lo and Thomas Ashton took second place, with Pan Chao and Andrew Tang of JRM rounding out the top three for their fourth podium finish of the year.
In GT4, The Winning Team and ChinaEquity AMR kept the title chase alive till the very last minute and it was the McLaren team that emerged victorious. By winning the final round, David McIntyre secured the GT4 AM drivers’ title, and took second in the GT4 overall drivers’ standings behind teammate Roelof Bruins. Zhou Yong and Max Wiser of ChinaEquity AMR and Chen Yinian and Ling Kang of Xtreme Motorsports completed the podium placings.
GT3
After five wins this season, Xu Jia only needed to finish today’s race in order to clinch the remaining China GT drivers’ championship title. He did just that and then some. Starting second behind championship rival Li Chao, he quietly bided his time, and it came. Li Chao set the early pace at the front, but unfortunately for the Chinese driver, he was handed a drive-through penalty for overtaking the Safety Car.
This allowed Xu Jia through into the lead with teammates Wang Liang and Xu Wei following in second and third.
After taking over from Wang, Martin Rump came out of the pits ahead of Xu Jia’s co-driver Dries Vanthoor. However, it was Chris van der Drift who really set the race alight. The New Zealander charged through the field and soon came hot on the heels of Vanthoor. The two battled for a couple of laps, but the Belgian knew he only needed to bring the car home to win the championship for Xu, and let the faster #911 Porsche past at Turn 1. Van der Drift kept producing fastest laps, but ran out of time before he could attack the young Estonian in front. He finished the race in P2, 5 seconds adrift of Rump, and took second place in the GT3 drivers’ championship alongside teammate Li Chao.
Xu Wei and Ling Kang and Yang Yuan of Kings Racing finished outside the podium places.
GTC
The GTC race was fairly processional, with the top three drivers finishing the race in the same positions they had qualified in. CJ Huang had already secured his GTC drivers title, and easily held on to his lead from pole position.
He took his Lamborghini up to outright P3 before heading into the pits, and emerged the overall race leader before the professional drivers in GT3 regained their positions. Despite the best efforts of Billy Lo and Thomas Ashton, the Xtreme Motorsports Radical could not close in on Huang, who went on to take his sixth victory of the season.
JRM’s Pan Chao and Andrew Tang completed the podium, their fourth of the season. Will Bamber managed to set the fastest lap in the GTC category but ran out of time before he could challenge for a podium placing. JRM’s Zheng Hui and Xiao Min/Shang Lei rounded out the points-paying positions in fifth and sixth.
GT4
With a single entry – the McLaren 570S GT4 – The Winning Team fended off a formidable challenge from rivals Aston Martin in the 2017 GT4 Teams’ Championship. A win for the #570 entry also meant a second place finish for David McIntyre in the GT4 Drivers’ Championship, behind teammate Roelof Bruins who was crowned champion three rounds before.
It was a bad day for ChinaEquity AMR’s Stanley Yang Mengqiao, who unfortunately crashed out on the installation lap after a strong showing in the previous three rounds. This left the sole ChinaEquity Aston Martin of Zhou Yong and Max Wiser to take the fight to the McLaren.
McIntyre managed to stay ahead of the pack in the opening stint, while rivals at the back struggled to stay on track. Two Lotus cars of Anthony Chan and Sam Lok were caught out by the left-hand kink at Turn 15, with Chan bearing the brunt of the impact and having to retire after several laps in the pits. Chen Yinian in the #86 KTM and Zhou Yong took the opportunity to up their grid positions behind McIntyre towards the start of the pit window.
Roelof Bruins was first to emerge after swapping out McIntyre, while at the back, Max Wiser gained a position on Chen’s co-driver Ling Kang after the stops. Wiser look to have the pace to attack Bruins but the Italian unfortunately also ran wide at turn 15, allowing the Dutchman to pull away. At the back, the fight for the podium was on, with the KTM able to pass Clement Li’s yellow Lotus Evora on the main straight after a battle lasting several laps.
Adderly Fong put in some impressive lap times and managed to unlap himself against Wiser. He finished fifth alongside Yang Zhiyi for ZIA FEA Racing. Teammates Yin Jinge and Zhang Dongqi took sixth.
