24 Jun 2013 Pan Delta Circuit Hero Two: Lead duo battles too hard

At 14:40 on 16 June 2013, one of the most popular races of the Pan Delta Super Racing Festival, Circuit Hero Two, commences at Zhuhai International Circuit. The weather has improved so much by now that blue sky can be glimsed.

This grassroot race has attracted a massive 46 cars to take part. The cars line up all the way to the last turn. The enormity of the entries means that the associated friends and relatives also form a large cheer group. The cars entered include Honda Fit, Suzuki Swift, Toyota Yaris, VW Polo... etc. These economical road cars are very good for novice drivers to start motorsports in.

According to the qualifying results, VW GTI driver Xiao Jia-Wei starts on pole position, Lai Yi-Hui will be second on the grid with Tan Hao-De in third place, both driving Honda Civics. Huang Gui-Hua, a veteran of this race, is fourth in his Honda FD2.

When the red lights go off to indicate the start of the race, the black VW GTI makes a poor start and is engulfed by the 3 cars behind. At turn 4, he is in fourth place. No. 12 Liu Yi-Feng's Toyota Yaris goes off track while driving in the field but he is able to recover and continue, albeit way behind.

Numerous cars runs off the circuit but nothing serious has occurred, most of them are able to return to the track and continue. This is not unusual in a race that has many rookies. It is part of their learning process.

On lap 3, Xiao Jia-Wei has moved into second position and is ready to take on race leader, no. 188 Tan Hao-De's Honda Civic. The third placed man is a long way behind. The two drivers begin to fight for victory. On lap 4, when the two reach the straight between turns 3 and 4, Xiao Jia-Wei tries to overtake and he goes to the inside line for the corner. But he is too fast for the corner and fails to brake in time to turn in and runs on into the sand trap. But he carries the momentum with him and runs over the sand trap and re-joins the track.

On lap 5, Xiao Jia-Wei tries again. The duo are now behind some backmarkers and it is a good chance. After passing a few of the slower cars, they are just one second apart and Xiao Jia-Wei tries his move on lap 6, but Tan Hao-De manages to defend his position.

At the last corner, no. 88 Xiao Jia-Wei suddenly change his line to the inside line and both cars are running very quickly and no. 188 Tan Hao-De has no time to respond. At turn 14, Xiao completes his move and leads the race for the first time. But Tan is not giving up, at turn 9 Xiao is forced onto the curve by Tan and almost loses his lead. The two drivers are fighting hard.

On lap 8 at turn 4, Xiao Jia-Wei once again fails to stop for the corner and runs into the sandtrap, allowing Tan Hao-De the chance to move back into the lead. The leaders hit more backmarkers and Xiao Jia-Wei still has a chance. Before turn 12, Xiao moves into the outside lane and tries to go around the corner at a higher speed. But once in the corner, both drivers are reluctant to give up and both cars slide into the sandtrap together after a slight hit. They try to get back out on to the track but it is too late.

In the end, no. 777 Xie Zheng-Ge wins the race with no. 33 Li De-Rong second. No 9 Wang Yu-Tao is third. No. 92 Yuan Sheng-Ping was the first driver to cross the finish line but he received a 30 seconds penalty which took him down to fifth place.