2018 China GT Beijing Rnd 6 Race Report - KINGS Racing takes GT3 spoils; Xtreme Motorsports takes 1-2 in GTC, and a victory in GT4. 

KINGS Racing’s Alessio Picariello and Xu Jia made a fantastic comeback and capped off the Beijing weekend with a win. Xtreme Motorsports awoke from its Saturday slumber, and claimed a 1-2 finish in GTC Class. The team also took GT4 spoils earlier in the day after a laudable drive by Tom Ashton and Lo Sze Ho from the back of the grid. 

GT3 Class

It was an interesting Sunday afternoon as some GTC cars were slotted into the GT3 grid. 

After missing the half of the race on Saturday due to a technical issue, Xu Jia rejoined for round 6 from the back of the grid. He did not stay there long though, as the fast-running Shanghai drive marauded through the field, banging in fastest laps and quickly claimed the lead by lap 8. 

Pole-man Wang Liang encountered gearbox issues early in the race, and was passed by teammate Xu, and D2’s Kuo Kuo Hsin. After that, he went on unchallenged and handed the #8 Audi to teammate Martin Rump in P3, who brought the car home in the same position.   

Kuo Kuo Hsin started from P8 after suffering a penalty for technical infringement, but quickly made his way up to second in the first stint. He was 15 seconds behind Xu Jia but temporarily jumped the #1 driver due to a shorter pit stop. However, he could not hold off the attack from Belgian star Alessio Picariello and relinquished the lead a few laps later. 

Picariello proceeded to pull away from the rest, setting fastest laps in clean air. He was followed over the line by Kuo and teammate Martin Rump in the sister car. R+ Racing’s Xiao Min and Min Heng finished fourth overall but took the crown for the GT3 Am/Am category. 

Team JRM came off a tough Saturday, having been hit with a post-race time penalty on Saturday. Their misery was compounded when Li Chao’s car hit a wet patch and skidded off the track. The round 5 championship leader could not rejoin the race and had to leave the #911 stranded on the grass near turn 8. 

GTC Class

Round 5 winner and championship leader CJ Huang started from the front row alongside the GT3 Audi. However, being thrown into the GT3 mix has compromised Huang’s pace and he was passed by Liu Kai just a few laps into the race. He fought hard with the Xteme Motorsports driver and other GT3 cars, but all his effort came to naught when his gearbox failed on lap 44. The Taiwanese driver suffered his first DNF of the season. 

Xtreme Motorsports’ #68 Radical spent most of its time sandwiched between the GT3 cars, but both Liu Kai and Thomas Ashton set competitive lap times that could rival the generally more efficient GT3s despite taking some damage during an early race contact. They finished comfortably ahead of teammates Dominic Ang and Song Bo, whose #25 Radical nipped through a struggling R+ Racing Porsche Cup car shared by Wang Tao and Zhang Dasheng. 

R+ Racing’s Lamborghini entry of Xiao Min and Shang Lei took fourth overall and P1 for the GTC Am/Am classification. 

GT4 Class

Overnight rain in Beijing has left plenty of standing water on the track. This prompted the race control to declare the track ‘WET’, leaving the teams free choice of tyres. 

Top three traded blows when the light went green, and saw Anthony Chan going off track and kicking up dust in his wake. Pole-sitter Ryan Liu decided to play it safe, carefully navigating the greasy track on his Michelin slicks. He lost places to Winning Team’s David McIntyre and Fist Team AAI’s Kevin Chen. 

After two laps of Safety Car, which was deployed for a turn 8 incident involving #619 and #28, the front-running three cars of McIntyre, Chen and Xtreme Motorsports’ Tom Ashton were off to a heated battle for the lead. Tom Ashton emerged victorious in the end, repeating the same move on Chen and later on McIntyre through the tight hairpin of turn 4 on lap 9 and 10. 

The gap between each car was significant enough that the mandatory pit stop did not disrupt the grid positions, and the race set off to become a processional one. 

The #91 stopped off the outside of turn 7 when there was still 10 minutes on the clock, and prompted the Safety Car procedure. Dong Liang briefly considered making an attempt at Lo Sze Ho’s KTM after the restart, but the pace was not there for the McLaren – heaviest on the grid – to make headway against Lo and Dong finished second. 

Saturday’s winner #618’s Aston Martin shared by Ryan Liu and Jack Mitchell finished a lap down in third. K2C Motorsports’ Kenny Chung and Sennan Fielding finished off the podium.