19 Apr 2021 Leading all the way: Tommy Chan wins ZMA Touring Car Class A Race in LMP3 racer
Tommy Chan leads all the way
On 18 April, 2021 Zhuhai Motorsports Association Club Race welcomes the ZMA Touring Car Class A Race. In the end, Grid Motorsport #11 Tommy Chan led the race all the way and took ZMA Touring Car Class A victory by a big margin.
Race 1
In the qualifying session held in the morning, all the drivers enjoy good performance, participating cars include Ligier JS P3, Audi R8 LMS GT4, Mercedes AMG GT4, Porsche 911, Mitsubishi Evo 9 etc. All these are high performance machines fighting for a better starting position in the race. During the qualifying session, the red flag is shown 3 times, in the end Grid Motorsport #11 Tommy Chan sets the fastest lap time with a 1:36.813 lap and takes pole position for the main race. #23 Eric Kwong and #88 Liu Xun are second and third respectively.
At 15:13 in the afternoon, ZMA Touring Car Class A race is held. The race is 15 laps long with 18 drivers taking part. The race utilizes a rolling start, #11 Tommy Chan successfully protects his lead, #23 Eric Kwong and #5 Chris Chia follows behind.
On lap 3, #30 Alex Liu Lic-Ka passes #36 Billy Lo at T7 and moves up to the A3 class lead. #9 Henry Kwong also passes #88 Liu Xun at T12 and moves up to A2 class lead. On lap 4, #98 and #36 crash at T6 and the safety car is deployed by the race officials.
3 laps later the safety car returns to the pit lane. #9 Eric Kwong passes #5 Chris Chia for third overall. On lap 10, #77 Lin Xue-Jun makes a move and #5 Chris Chia drops another position to fifth overall.
3 laps from the end, #36 Billy Lo has a left front tyre puncture and runs into the gravel. Sadly he has to retire from the race and loses a podium opportunity. By now #11 Tommy Chan enjoys a 20 seconds advantage and is zooming in on his overall race win.
On the last lap, #9 and #77 battle over third place overall. They overtake and re-overtake each other at many corners. Finally #77 has a tyre puncture and stops at the T11 grass and retires from the race. In the end, the top 3 overall are #11 Tommy Chan, #23 Eric Kwong and #9 Henry Kwong.
In the various classes, prototype class winner is Grid Motorsport #11 Tommy Chan. A1 class top 3 are Phantom Pro Racing #5 Chris Chia, Champ Motorsport #6 Cao Qi and SilverRocket Racing #66 Li Jia. For A2 class, top 3 are KiddyWorld Racing #23 Eric Kwong, KiddyWorld Racing #9 Henry Kwong and Gaoge Racing #88 Liu Xun. In the A3 class, the top 3 are Elegant Racing #30 Alex Liu Lic-Ka, Xinghai TPR Racing #68 Lv Zheng-Ming and Champ Motorsport #2 Zeng Wei-Ye. A5 class top 2 are Foshan Xiongji Racing #18 Cheng Chun-Hua and Sinsoku Oil Racing #1 Ye Guang-Wen.
Post Race Interview
After the race, overall race winner Tommy Chan said, “I am very excited to take this victory, I have also performed to my usual standards. Actually I have been taking part in Pan Delta before and I can be considered a solid fan of ZIC. I will surely continue to take part and try to achieve more good results.”
Overall second place finisher Eric Kwong said, “I have been to ZIC many times but this is the first time taking part in the official club race. I am quite satisfied with my performance. If the opportunity is there I will continue to take part in the club race series. Of course I hope my brother will continue to fight hard, too and improve.”
Overall third place finisher Henry Kwong said, “This was the third time I have run on this track. Therefore I have done a lot of preparations. The race was very competitive and I am very happy to have taken third place. I will continue to work hard and try to improve and get better results.”