20 Jan 2018 Circuit Hero 600 km Endurance Race Multiple failures at heated qualifying session

On 20 January 2018, Zhuhai International Circuit hosts its first big race of the year, “Circuit Hero 600km Endurance Race”. The qualifying session for the race officially begins at the Zhuhai track. There are 26 entrants, altogether77 drivers have entered the 141 laps race. Among them are well known drivers such as Marchy Lee, Gary Sham and James Tang. In the Ladies Cup, Weng Jia-Ling and Jia Rui added extra interest to the race.

The Circuit Hero race series has long been the top representative in the national hyper tuned racing scene. Apart from the teams and drivers who grew up in the “Circuit Hero” series, in recent years drivers from other top level series are also attracted to it. In the Open Class, Shaun Thong/Marchy Lee/Kevin Tse/Alex Yoong is one of those. Their Audi R8 GT3 has chosen to race for the first time this year in the Circuit Hero 600km Endurance Race, as a way of testing. This is a way of explaining the importance of the Circuit Hero’s professionalism and competitiveness.

As the race cars in the various classes have very big performance differences, the race organizers have divided the classes into two separate sessions. The 13 cars in Open class and A class will qualify first, allowing each car the best opportunity to perform. In just 3 laps, Shaun Thong/Marchy Lee/Kevin Tse/Alex Yoong #8 Audi R8 LMS GT3 sets a super quick lap time of 1:31.987, demonstrating its superior performance.

Maybe influenced by this lap time, the other race cars also begin to push. #89 loses control and goes into the gravel trap at turn 11, sadly ending their qualifying challenge. The race organizers shows the yellow flag. Just as the accident at turn 11 is cleared, there is another accident at turns 3-4. The race organizers show the yellow flag again.

In the end, Shaun Thong/Marchy Lee/Kevin Tse/Alex Yoong #8 takes pole position with 1:31.705, nearly 4 seconds faster than the second placed qualifier. Hugues Ripert/Stephane Ortelli #19 are second, Liu Peng/Che Liang/Jiao Peng #88 are third. Eric Wong/Robert Webb/Anthony Chan/Dominic Ang #98 are 1st in class A and fourth overall.

Behind them, in the B/C/Ladies Cup are also full of incidents. On their second lap, #9 loses control at turn 11 and has to retire from the session. Gary Sham/Xu Lei-Ye/Zeng Huan-Yao/Cao Jin-Jun #16 shows good pace and takes pole position in class B, while #55 Rao Long/Wang Jian-Feng/Li Ying-Xi/Zeng Zhi-Feng are first in class C.

The teams have shown some good performances in qualifying but can they sustain them in the 141 laps race? 21 January 2018 Circuit Hero 600km Endurance Race, the excitement is coming!