GT3 Championship leader Xu Jia took third consecutive pole of the season alongside 2017 Audi R8 LMS Cup champion Alessio Picariello. The duo finished ahead of teammates Wang Liang and Martin Rump, and championship rivals Team JRM’s Li Chao and Chris van der Drift.
In GTC, Xtreme Motorsports’ Thomas Ashton and Liu Kai pipped D2’s CJ Huang by a mere 0.3s. R+ Racing’s Zhang Dasheng and Wang Tao will start from the second row.
It was a good day for the Xtreme Motorsports as their GT4 KTM entry also snatched pole. The #86 of Thomas Ashton and Lo Sze Ho will start in front of championship leader Winning Team’s David McIntyre and Dong Liang, and China Equity AMR’s Jack Mitchell and Ryan Liu.
GT3
Xu Jia will again start on pole alongside Belgian star Alessio Picariello. The pair saw off KINGS Racing teammates Wang Liang and Martin Rump by 0.094s, but it was the Estonian who set the GT3 benchmark with a time of 01:02.538.
The Porsche #911 has yet to fulfill its full potential this Friday afternoon, and qualified third behind the Audi rivals. The Team JRM entry shared by Chris van der Drift and Li Chao laid down a marker with a blistering time of 1:01.901 at Goldenport in 2017, and the team has some work to do overnight to find the inherent pace. D2’s Kuo Kuo Hsin will start on the second row alongside the Porsche. #991 Porsche suffered damage from Thursday practice and will sadly sit out the Beijing round.
GTC
Xtreme Motorsports’ Thomas Ashton and Liu Kai were the one to beat in GTC qualifying with a combined time of 01:04.723, bagging their second pole position of the season. D2’s CJ Huang will join the Radical at the sharp end of the grid, qualifying 0.3s behind the Xtreme rivals.
R+ Racing’s Wang Tao and Zhang Dasheng qualified third while carrying 35kg of success ballast. Teammates Xiao Min and Shang Lei will start fourth ahead of a second Radical of Dominic Ang and Song Bo.
GT4
Thomas Ashton and Lo Sze Ho took their first GT4 pole for 2018, thanks to very competitive performance from both drivers in the Xtreme Motorsports KTM. The Hong Kongese driver set the quickest time in session 2 with a score of 01:09.348, beating the rest of the AM pack by 1.6s. That along with Ashton’s second best time in session 1 was enough to vault the duo to the top of the timesheet at a record-breaking 01:08.910.
GT4 Championship leader David McIntyre paired up with Dong Liang in Beijing, and put the Winning Team McLaren up to second spot with a time of 01:10.036. The #570 edged title rivals China Equity AMR’s Jack Mitchell and Ryan Liu by less than 0.3s.
Further down the field, Fist Team AAI’s Kevin Chen and Ivan Lee qualified fourth ahead of K2C Motorsports’ Sennan Fielding and Kenny Chung. GT4 pace setter Dominic Ang and teammate Anthony Chan of Team Lotus will start sixth ahead of a second Aston Martin of David Pun and Zhang Fangxuan.
Follow the Round 5 of the races tomorrow on facebook @ChinaGTChampionship:
Saturday
> 10:40 GT4 Round 5
> 15:10 GT3/GTC Round 5
Sunday
> 11:00 GT4 Round 5
> 14:30 GT3/GTC Round 5
