2019 China GT Qinhuangdao Qualifying Report

GT3 Q1

Alessio Picariello took his first China GT pole for EWS Craft-Bamboo Racing this season at the Qinhuangdao street circuit. He edged Adam Christodoulou in the same Mercedes-AMG machine by 0.134s with a time of 1:34.193. Third placed Jesse Krohn of FIST-Team AAI missed out on the front row by merely five hundreds of a second.

McLaren racer Joe Osborne aboard the brand new McLaren 720S GT3 managed to make improvements on his second run, but came up short against his more experienced rivals. He will start fourth ahead of championship leader Nick Yelloly, who’s lost a chunk of time in sector 1 on his best lap. He will start alongside Taiwanese youngster Peter Liao of D2 Racing.   


GT3 Q2

China GT debutant Han Han has shown that a person can be talented and achieve incredible things in multiple disciplines. On top of being a best-selling author, film director and singer, the Chinese rallying and touring car champion was able to trounce his rivals on his first GT outing. He only stepped into the Winning Team McLaren 720S GT3 for the first time on Thursday and set the timesheets alight with a blistering 1:36.669. Him and Joe Osborne will start from pole on Sunday.

Solo driver Peter Liao improved by nearly a second in Q2 and will start from the front row on Sunday.

Jeffrey Lee finished 0.423 off Han Han and will line up alongside FIST-Team AAI’s Junsan Chen, who was last seen in the #90 BMW in the opening Sepang rounds.

Betty Chen (FIST-Team AAI) and Eric Zang (Toro Racing) will occupy the third row.


GTC Q1

Double China GT champion CJ Huang has shown us what he’s got in his locker! He claimed pole position for YC Racing in the Lamborghini with a time of 1:38.507 and saw off Dominic Ang by 0.34s. Huang’s teammates and championship leaders Zheng Wancheng took third ahead of #186 of Xiao Min and Li Jiaqi.

More woes for the #68 as it stopped on track on its out lap. The team recalled it back to the pit and the #68 had to sit out of both Qualifying sessions.


GTC Q2

CJ Huang’s teammate Wang Tao took the #75 to double pole this weekend with a time of 1:39.105. He will share the front row with teammate Zhou Bihuang’s #918 Lambo.

#186 of Xiao Min and Li Jiaqi will again start from third. More woes came for the Xtreme Motorsports team as Song Bo’s car ground to a halt at pit exit. He will start fourth.


GT4 Q1

Phantom Pro Racing’s Alex Fontana was quick straight out of the box and set the fastest times on his first flying lap with a time of 1:42.252.

After sitting out Shanghai, Will Bamber returned to take the second spot on the front row, missing pole by 0.205s.

The second Phantom Pro Mercedes-AMG of Rainey He shared the second row with Asia Sonic Racing’s Ross Gunn in the #618 Aston Martin Vantage.

Lining up from third row onwards:
#86 Ling Kang of Xtreme Motorsports, #570 Michael O’Brien of Winning Team, #868 Luo Kailuo of Winning Team, #999 Wang Hao of Team Master Champ, #49 Kenneth Lim of Winning Team, #87 Wei Tianyi of Xtreme Motorsports, and #4 Ma Ka Lok of TopGun GT.



GT4 Q2

The #86 KTM of Lo Szeho was quickest in Q2. At 1:43.786, his pole lap was enough to edge some of the professional drivers in the first quali session.

#6’s Lu Wei was quickest at the start but his times were deleted for going wide at the final corner. On a second run, he was able to claim the other spot on the front row for Sunday.

Team Master Champ’s Wang Hao and Asia Sonic Racing’s David Pun will share row 2.

Completing the rest of the grid were: #87 Liu Kai of Xtreme Motorsports, #570 Dong Liang of Winning Team, #5 Chris Chia of Phantom Pro Racing, #22 Kuo Kuo Hsin of D2 Racing, #49 James Cai of Winning Team, #868 Lei Ke of Winning Team, and #4 Ye Xuanhao of TopGun GT.