It is the third season running for the China GT Championship and our teams and drivers are ready for yet another season of jam-packed actions.

The official test sets the stage for teams to gather crucial data and put the cars to the test. In 2018, China GT will again feature the GT3 Class, GTC Class and GT4 Class, while Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entries can elect to race in a separate class - the Porsche GT3 Cup Trophy China. 2017 veterans KINGS Racing, JRM, Extreme Motorsports and China Equity AMR will be joined by newcomer R+ Racing at the test weekend. 

Practice 1 took place on a typically smoggy Beijing day, and 2017’s GT3 third place winner Wang Liang set the fastest lap in his #8 KINGS Racing Audi with a time of 1:04.572. Min Heng had fewer runs in his Porsche 911 GT3R and placed second, while teammate Li Chao could not make it out of the pits due to an issue with parts. Shang Lei’s R+ Racing Lamborghini has the most run out of the pack with 33 laps, and was the quickest car among the GTC entries ahead of the Xtreme Motorsports’ Radicals of Lo Tze Ho and Thomas Ashton, and Song Bo. JRM’s R+ Racing’s Wang Tao and Zheng Hui both made it out of the pit, with Wang Tao setting the pace at 1:07.431 for the Porsche GT3 Cup Trophy China. 

The Aston Martin Vantage GT4 of Chen Wen and Shen Cheng led the GT4 pack with a time of 1:09.511 ahead of China Equity ARM teammate Huang Yiqing. Neither of the KTMs managed to set a representative time during the Friday afternoon running.

Practice 2 for GT3/GTC/Porsche GT3 Cup Trophy China starts on Saturday at 12:30pm, and GT4 at 14:00; Practice 3 for GT3/GTC/Porsche GT3 Cup Trophy China starts on the same day at 15:20, and GT4 16:40. 

The pre-season press conference is scheduled to start at 10:10am where all the teams, drivers and partners and sponsors gather in celebration of the new season.