30 May 2016 Relentless battle in the rain - Circuit Hero Three Race

At 4pm on Sunday 20 March 2016, a sudden drizzle disrupted the Pan Delta Super Racing Festival race weekend. As the final race of the season opening event, Circuit Hero Three race cars appears on the track to face the challenge that the other Circuit Hero participants did not have to deal with.

Circuit Hero Three is the most civilian and grassroot class. All vehicles entered are compact cars like the Toyota Vitz or Honda Fit. They are not very fast, but are very competitive against each other, so the drivers are really competing against each other by skills alone. With the race being wet, another unknown factor is thrown into the mix, adding more unpredictability.

According to the qualifying results, #66 Luo Wei-Qi is on pole position; #26 Wu Hao-Lin is second and #25 Liao Yi-Feng is third. Lin Zhe and He Wei-Hang are fourth and fifth respectively. Although a slight drizzle is happening, the grid is still full of race models, mechanics and other team personnel. Even for the most grassroot race, under the big Pan Delta umbrella the race appears professional.

At 4:10pm the race begins. #66 Luo makes a good start and cuts across to protect his lead. But it does not last long as he spins and the other drivers go pass him. By the time he is able to rejoin the race he is already down in 9th place.

At turn 4, #3 He Wei-Hang loses control and spins around. He can rejoin, too, but he is way down the order. Due to the low light conditions, all race cars turn on their headlights. At the end of lap 1, Liao Yi-Feng is leading the race, Wu Hao-Lin is 5 seconds behind in second place with Lin Zhe in third position. On lap 4, Luo Wei-Qi has moved up to sixth place. The rain is a great test for the drivers, they have to use different racing lines on the track. Overtaking is difficult also as the areas that are off the racing line will be wetter, offering significantly less grip.

On lap 5, Wu Hao-Lin overtakes Liao Yi-Feng and their battle begins. The  gap among the leading trio is about 0.5 sec. A lap later, Liao Yi-Feng counter attacks and gets past Wu Hao-Lin. Then Lin Zhe also makes his move and pass Wu Hao-Lin for second place.

Lap 6, Liao Yi-Feng takes advantage of Lin Zhe and Wu Hao-Lin battle to breakaway, but his advantage is still less than 2 seconds. Anything can happen on this wet track though. Lap 7 and Luo Wei-Qi is up to 4th and following the 2nd place battle closely. But as soon as he harbours hopes for second place his car stops on the track.

In the next two corners, Lin Zhes race car suddenly loses control and is stuck in the sand trap. It might be because he followed Wu Hao-Lin too closely and lost sight of the corner. Now without Lin Zhe to bother him, Wu Hao-Lin is able to run free, soon he passes leader Liao Yi-Feng for the lead. He Wei-Hang is now back up to 3rd position. Liao Yi-Feng is not giving up his lead easily and keeps looking for a way back to the top.

At the finish line, Wu Hao-Lin resists Liao Yi-Fengs attacks to claim the win, the gap between them just 0.175s. He Wei-Hang takes third place.

 

Class	Position	Number	Driver
A2	1	66	Lou Wei-Qi
	2	38	Huang Guo-Quan
	3	87	Li De-Rong
A3	1	26	Wu Hao-Lin
	2	25	Liao Yi-Feng
	3	19	Lin Shu-Ming
A5	1	3	He Wei-Hang
	2	10	Hang Ying-Fu
	3	33	Huang Wei-Fu

 Please visit Zhuhai International Circuit official website www.zic.com.cn for detailed results.

Time	Details
16:09	#66 starts from the pit lane.
16:09	#15 hits #3 at T5, #3 goes into sand trap.
16:11	#9 spins at T11, rejoins the race.
16:12	#9 drives into sand trap at T4, towed away.
16:16	#2  drives into sand trap at T1, towed away.
16;18	#13 spins at T12, rejoins the race.
16;24	#66 spins at T9, rejoins the race.
16:24	#15 drives into sand trap at T11.