While many were expecting heavy rain this Saturday, the opening race of China GT is all but processional. Two 2017 champions took victory in GT3 and GTC Class while dark-horse candidate Xtreme Motorsports climbed aboard the rostrum for GT4.
GT3 Class
Reigning champion Xu Jia took GT3’s first pole-to-win of the 2018 season, alongside 2017 Audi R8 LMS Cup champion Alessio Picariello. KINGS Racing’s old rivals Li Chao and Chris van der Drift drove their Porsche backed 911 GT3R to second place from P5, while a second Audi of TSRT Tianshi Racing’s David Chen and Michael Choy fended off assault from Will Bamber to finish on the podium.
As lights went out, the sole AMG of D2’s Kuo Kuo Hsin made an impressive move around the outside of Turn 1 in an attempt to overtake the four Audis in front. Unfortunately for the Taiwanese driver, a problem soon developed after he tagged one of the TSRT entries in front, and was forced to retire after one lap. The twin TSRT Audis, starting from the second row, sandwiched Wang Liang’s #8 KINGS R8 to lead into turn 2, dropping the Chinese driver to P6. Experienced campaigner Max Wiser, despite a sore ankle, managed to make up four positions to emerge in the lead, overtaking the later generation Audis in the #666 Audi LMS R8 ultra. Li Chao avoided the melee in front after a disappointing qualifying on Friday, but lost some time after a small off-track excursion just before the pit window. Fortunately no position was lost for the Chinese star, and he was among the first ones to bring the car back in for driver change.
After taking over from Xu Jia, Picariello soon passed the Billy Lo to snatch the lead and immediately pulled away. Sadly for Lo, he was caught out by the sharp left-hander of Turn 4 after a faulty ABS and his race was over.
2017 PCCA champion Chris van der Drift gained positions after the pit stop but did not have enough pace to take the challenge to Picariello, who crossed the chequered flag first with a 33-second lead.
Further in the back, David Chen defended his third position against a charging Will Bamber towards the closing laps, while navigating his way through a number of lapped cars. Andrea Caldarelli in the Ferrari 488 GT3 EVO set the overall fastest lap today. However, despite valiant effort the SF Racing team could only finish fifth. The second Porsche 911 GT3R finished in P6 but was crowned winner of the GT3 Am/Am category.
GTC Class
It certainly looks like the reigning champions of 2017 are continuing their winning streak into 2018. CJ Huang, after qualifying 2.5 seconds ahead of his rivals on Friday, took another convincing victory in the opening race of China GT.
Song Bo and Dominic Ang showed steady pace throughout the race, despite a drop in positions at the start, and finished second in the #25 Xtreme Motorsports’ Radical. Teammates Thomas Ashton and Liu Kai held on to P2 throughout most of the race, but a very unlucky Liu’s suffered a breakdown at Turn 4 on the final lap and was passed by Ang only a few kilometers away from the finish line. He managed to restart the car and finish on the podium ahead of Wang Tao and Daniel Lu’s R+ Racing entry.
TSRT suffered double DNF in the GTC Class. Also retired is R+ Racing’s #82 Shang Lei who slipped out at the tight hairpin of turn 11 after five laps.
GT4 Class
It was as chaotic as a start as you can expect for the GT4 season opener. As soon as the lights were off, fourth place holder Sam Lok pulled to the left to take the outside line, while the twin McLarens of Winning Team charged through the melee to snatch the lead from pole-sitter Fist’s Chen Chun Hua. During a battle for position at turn 4, KTM’s Lo Sze Ho spun after being tagged by Lok’s Lotus and subsequently fell to the back of the field.
Touring car star Andy Yan was on top form today, hauling TRC Team’s brand new Mercedes-AMG GT4 from the fifth row to P4 in one lap, and went on the pass the #91 BMW and McIntyre’s McLaren in quick succession.
After taking the lead, Benjamin Rouget set one fastest lap after another in clean air. However, the hot temperature in Zhuhai and substantial BOP weight started to take a toll on the #540 McLaren 570S. The brake began to wear off and the Frenchman’s lap time soon deteriorated by almost a second a lap. This gave Yan a chance close in and eventually squeezed past Rouget on lap 15 around turn 4.
The #540 was not the only McLaren to suffer from underperforming brakes, as Dong Liang lost control of the car at turn 1 immediately after switching out McIntyre on lap 17. The experienced Chinese driver managed to drag himself out of the gravel to rejoin the race despite floor damage, but can only finish P5.
Thomas Ashton gained several positions after the pit stop, and cruised to victory with a sizable 13-second gap with the #618 Aston Martin of Jack Mitchell. Fist team’s Lee Yueh Hsun showed steady and competitive pace in his stint, and came home third in the overall GT4 class, while claiming first in the Am/Am category.
Completing the top 10 are: James Tang and Andy Yan, #3, TRC Team; Dong Liang and David McIntyre, #570, Winning Team; Dominic Ang and Anthony Chan, #28, Team Lotus; Eric Wong and Sam Lok, #98, Team Lotus; Zhang Dasheng and Shen Cheng, #118, China Equity AMR; Bill O’Brien and Yu Zhao, #619, China Equity AMR; Yuan Tingting, #117, China Equity AMR.
#540 and #11 retired on lap 22 and lap 19 respectively.
That’s a wrap! Join us for more on-track battles tomorrow at Beijing local time 11:00am for GT4 Class, and 14:30pm for GT3/GTC Class. Also don’t forget the opening ceremony, which is scheduled for 13:50pm on Sunday 13 May. You can follow all the actions on our official facebook account @ChinaGTChampionship.
