Safety Cars shook up the GT3/GTC race but Xu Jia and Alessio Picariello brought the #1 Audi home with a commanding lead. CJ Huang put his Rnd 6 setback behind him and converted another pole to victory in GTC, while fellow Taiwanese stars Fist Team AAI’s Ivan Lee and Kevin Chen celebrate maiden win in GT4.
GT3 Class
Incidents and safety cars were the order of the day in the first half of the GT3/GTC race. Pole-sitter Li Chao did not enjoy a good start. The fast-running Eric Zang went around the outside of pole-sitter Li at T1 for the lead, and Xu Jia then nipped past Li on the inside of the T6 hairpin. He lost more positions when his lost his rear going into T9 and spun onto the grass, fortunately avoiding the barrier and rejoined the track in ninth overall.
Li caught a break, however, when two Safety Cars helped him manage a healthy gap to the leaders, and he brought the car back in fifth for teammate Chris van der Drift. The JRM entry also managed to jump ahead when #63 AMG rivals encountered problems and lost nearly 17 seconds during driver change.
Xu Jia overtook teammate Zang at T6 during the second Safety Car restart, and returned the #1 Audi in P1 to Alessio Picariello. Picariello managed gap and the Michelin tyres perfectly and brought the car home with 8s to spare.
Van der Drift regained several positions but his tyres started to go towards the closing laps,. He just managed to cross the finish line ahead of Jan Seyffarth’s KINGS Racing AMR, who had been ruthlessly hunting down the New Zealander after a bungled pit stop.
Li Jiaqi and Pan Chao finished off the podium but were crowned winner of the GT3 Am/Am category.
New entry Rick Meng failed to complete driver change and was handed a 60-second time penalty plus pit stop time. He will start from the back for Sunday’s race for exceeding maximum driving time.
D2’s Kuo Kuo Hsin had a disappointing afternoon. He ran off the track and was beached at T6 on the final lap.
GTC Class
All cars got away without incident during the start. Jeffrey Zee lost a position to the other Porsche Cup of Wang Tao. However, the race was quickly neutralised when Simon Chan tangled with Shang Lei out of the T6 hairpin. The contact sent Chan’s #7 car into the barrier resulting in significant damage.
GTC front row starter Xtreme Motorsports’ Dominic Ang and Song Bo had a good chance to battle CJ Huang for race win and championship lead. However, the #68 Radical ground to a halt after the restart, which prompted a second Safety Car in the race.
In the end, it was the mandatory pit stop that shook up the grid. Daniel Lu, after taking over from Lawrence Liu, was vaulted to P2 and set consistent lap times.
Zee’s co-driver Jason Zhang also managed to gain places against the other Am-rated drivers after taking the wheel, and finished third for Eagle Eye Racing behind teammate Daniel Lu.
Despite a minor scare in the opening lap, #82 of Shang Lei and Zheng Hui came home fourth for R+ Racing. Paul Wong of KINGS Racing, Wang Tao and Wu Pei of R+ Racing, and Jacky Wu and Steve Yin of Eagle Eye Racing completed the top seven.
GT4 Class
As the field approached the long right-hander at T1, Julio Acosta in the Team Lotus Evora judged his braking perfectly and overtook front-row sitters Kevin Chen and Ryan Liu in one sweeping move to snatch the lead. He went off the set blistering lap times and pulled clear of the chasing pack.
Behind, McLaren’s Dong Liang also took to the inside and came into fourth in the first few corners, after starting from the back of grid for failing to participate in Friday qualifying. He then continued to chase down the leading pack, nipping through the Aston Martin and BMW in the opening lap.
Dong’s Winning Team teammate David McIntyre also enjoyed a strong start. Like Dong, he started from the back but quickly came hot on the heels of the #618 Aston Martin of Ryan Liu. However, that’s when things went south for championship-leading Briton. As he turned towards the apex the tight hairpin of T14, Liu veered sharply into him from the outside and spun the McLaren around, disposing the #570’s cooling system and eventually forced it into retirement.
Liu was then issued a Drive-through penalty which he served on lap 9, losing a position to Lo Sze Ho and came into the pit in P5.
Team Lotus’ Robert Webb maintained the lead after the pit stop after taking over from Acosta, but tyre performance was dropping and he lost positions to Dong Liang, Ivan Lee and Lo Sze Ho.
Dong Liang surged into the lead. But more woes were to come for the Winning Team who was already having a hapless weekend. His pit stop time was 0.18s short of the mandatory requirement, and he was handed a 60-second time penalty which dropped him to fifth after the chequered flag.
Dong’s penalty promoted Fist Team AAI’s Ivan Lee to first. Lo took second and Robert Webb took the final spot on the podium.
Sennan Fielding and Kenny Chung finished fourth. Liu’s co-driver Jack Mitchell suffered overheating issues in his stint, and came home sixth ahead of teammates David Pun and Bill O’Brien.
#28 Lotus suffered mechanical problems and could not fix them in time for the first round. They will start from the back of the grid on Sunday’s race.
Sunday Schedule
9 September
> 11:30 GT4 Race 8
> 13:50 Opening Ceremony
> 14:30 GT3/GTC Race 8
