29 May 2016 Mercedes SLS is taken down as John Shen complete breaksthrough victory

At 10:00am on 20 March 2016, Pan Delta Circuit Hero One Race 2 is held at a crowded Zhuhai International Circuit. Yesterday Guo Guo-Xin's Mercedes SLS continued his unbeaten run, but John Shen and Enzo Lok have already closed the gap. Todays race is only 2/3 of yesterdays race distance. If yesterdays race was an endurance then todays race is a sprint. The Mercedes SLS continues to suffer from start issues. But todays race uses a rolling start so Guo should suffer less. Can the rest keep up with or even challenge him today? Lets find out.

According to the official result from yesterdays race. #26 Guo Guo-Xin starts from pole position, #36 Enzo Lok is second with #68 John Shen in third place. Liu Peng is fourth. At the last corner on the warm-up lap, the safety car drives into the pit lane, the cars bunch up and accelerate across the start/finish line. Rolling starts are usually reserved for powerful GT machines as they accelerate very quickly and it is hard to avoid accidents. Rolling starts allow the race cars to start racing while already at speed, reducing the risk of accidents.

Guo Guo-Xin easily takes the lead at turn 1 while John Shens Porsche 997 gets ahead of Enzo Loks Lamborghini Huracan. #88 Liu Peng suffers at the start and is overtaken by Jon Flinns Radical and Huang Xi-Zhans Audi R8. #87 Chen Qis Ferrari runs in 7th place. On lap 3, John Shen passes Guo Guo-Xin for the lead! The Mercedes SLS is finally toppled. But Guo Guo-Xin stays close behind John and anything is still possible.

Lap 5, #17 Zhang De-Xiang loses control at the last corner and is forced to retire from the race. Todays race is clearly more competitive. There are battles all over the field. Guo Guo-Xin is overtaken for the first time and he is anxious to get back to the front. But he ends up losing control and running off the track into the sand trap. He is forced to retire for the first time! On lap 6, #16 Liang Yong-Chao wobbles between turns 3-4, his tyre bursts and flies off the car, rolling and jumping on the track. The race car also loses control and goes straight into the sand trap at turn 4. The sand trap is just able to slow the car down enough so that the tyre wall can stop the car. The accident looks dangerous but the driver is able to walk away.

At the finish line, #68 John Shen maintains his lead and wins the race. #36 Enzo Lok takes second place overall and wins GT class. #28 Huang Xi-Zhan finishes third. The fastest lap of the race goes to Enzo Loks 1:38.341.

John Shen is very excited about the overtaking move on the circuit. "The SLS has very good acceleration and I could not keep up after the start. I had to wait for him to make a mistake to close the gap. Then I waited again for his second mistake to overtake him. After that he stays close behind me and I had to be careful not to make any mistakes. I passed two slow cars through the middle and he looked like he would pass them, too,  but he hit my back. I held tight to my steering wheel to keep control but he spun and went off. This was a great race, if he was not so anxious, we could have continued our fight and it would have been fun."

Enzo Lok said,"The race was exciting. At first we were slower, but later on we were able to speed up. After the SLS went off, I was able to get close to John. But overtaking was very difficult and it just could not happen. In June I will return. I am satisfied with todays speed, this car took the fastest lap today and I believe I will have a chance in June."

Huang Xi-Zhan said,"Yesterday our car had a problem and the mechanics had been trying to fix it. Today the car is in good condition but my starting position was very far behind, there was a lot of cars to overtake, that affected our performance in the early stage of the race. It has been hard trying to get to the front. By the time I got to the front I was a long way behind the leaders. The team asked me to hold position so I did not push. Overall, I am satisfied with todays result."

Class	Results	No.	Driver
GT3	1	68	John Shen
	2	88	Liu Peng
GT	1	36	Enzo Lok
	2	28	Huang Xi-Zhan
	3	27	Edgar Lau
OPEN	1	13	Jon Flinn
A	1	80	Anthony Chan
	2	11	Liu Zhao
	3	22	Tommy Chan
B	1	77	Ulrich Sanne
	2	66	Chen Zhong
	3	12	Liu Jiang-Tao
C	1	8	Li Ye-Long

 Please visit www.zic.com.cn for detailed results.

Time	Details
10:00	#80 starts from the pit lane.
10:00	#28 overtakes before the start line.
10:04	#2 stops on track at F2, towed away.
10:09	#18 drives into the pit lane.
10:11	#9 runs into the sand trap, rejoins the race.
10:12	#17 and #26 crash at T14, both in sand trap.
10:14	#16 runs into sand trap at T4, loses a wheel.