24 Mar 2019 Circuit Hero-Three Race | Ryan Kuang/Lu Jia-Le win from behind!

On 24 March 2019, after two hotly contested qualifying sessions, the much awaited Circuit Hero-Three main race is finally ready to commence at Zhuhai International Circuit as part of the Pan Delta Super Racing Festival Spring Race. At the end, #77 Ryan Kuang/Raymond Lo won the race overall, PetroCanada Star Chase Racing #36 Lei Jun-Bin/Fan Sheng-Sheng finished second and #16 Xie Pei-Shan/Chen Cheng took third place.

At 10 a.m. the race begins. Although the rain has eased off, there are still puddles around the track. #67 Xie Qi/Huang Wei-Fu pairing, #28 Yang Si-Xing/Sun Jun-Long pairing go off the circuit right at the start and have to retire from the race. #77 Ryan Kuang/Raymond Lo infringed the starting procedure and receives a drive-through penalty.

#3 He Wei-Hang/Zeng Xian-Xi, starting from 3rd position, performs outstandingly, more than once making attempts to pass the #22 TPR Racing car of Wu Wen-Fa/Denise Yeung. #36 PetroCanada Star Chase Racing car of Lei Jun-Bin/Fan Sheng-Sheng drops from second place to third place.

Soon after, for safety reasons, the race organizers send out the safety car and it stays on track for 2 laps, during which time the track is cleared. The race resumes and the top 4 are fighting fiercely. #3 He Wei-Hang/Zeng Xian-Xi pairing successfully pass #22 TPR Racing Wu Wen-Fa/Denise Yeung to take the lead of the race. But then #3 and #58 Han Ying-Fu/Zhao Guo-Xiang pairing are investigated by the race officials for passing under safety car procedure, so #3 maybe penalized. On lap 5, #36 PetroCanada Star Chase Racing car of Lei Jun-Bin/Fan Sheng-Sheng performs a stunning pass and moves up to second place. #22 TPR Racing Wu Wen-Fa/Denise Yeung is now down to third place.

On lap 9, #3 He Wei-Hang/Zeng Xian-Xi are firmly in the lead, #22 TPR Racing Wu Wen-Fa/Denise Yeung hits trouble and stops at turn 4. Sadly they are unable to continue.

At half distance, race cars begin to enter the pits for driver changes. Now #77 Ryan Kuang/Raymond Lo are up to first place and they are going faster and faster, extending their lead. The order now is #77, #32 and #3. On lap 18, #77 Ryan Kuang/Raymond Lo pits for a driver change. 

At the end of the 20 laps race, #77 Ryan Kuang/Raymond Lo wins. #3 He Wei-Hang/Zeng Xian-Xi are able to complete the race but they lost the win due to the penalty.

After the race #77 Ryan Kuang/Raymond Lo said, “Although we were penalized a drive-through, we did not give up. We kept to our rhythm. We understood our car and our tyres and we were confident. The result shows that our strategy of changing driver in the last few laps was a good one. We are very honoured to have won the race.”

According to the race regulations, the top 3 finishing driver pairings will have to carry 15kg, 10kg and 5kg ballasts in the next race respectively. The road to the series championship will not be an easy one.

After the race, official tyre supplier Pirelli awarded “Star of Pirelli” prizes to the top 3 finishers. At the same time the Zhuhai Motorsport Association also award a “Provincial Cup” to the top 3, they are: PetroCanada Star Chase Racing #36 Lei Jun-Bin/Fan Sheng-Sheng pairing, representing Guangxi province; #18 Xie Ping/Zhang Xian-Shang pairing, representing Anhui province and Tianshi Racing’s #55 Lin Shu-Ming/Wei Jia pairing, representing Shaanxi province.

At this, the first Circuit Hero-Three race of 2019 is over. See you again in Pan Delta Summer Race!