10 Dec 2012 2012 ZIC Superbike 3 Hours Endurance Race: BG Motorsports successfully defends its crown

On 9 December 2012, the ZIC Superbike 3 Hours Endurance Race is held at 9am at Zhuhai International Circuit. The weather at the track is fine with good sunshine and warm temperature. 11 teams are ready for battle, 6 in Class 1 and 5 in Class 2.

ZIC Superbike 3 Hours Endurance Race uses a format which allows both the rider and the bike to be changed during the pit stop. When a rider comes in with his bike, his team mate will return to the track on his own bike after the stop is complete. The team that completes the most number of laps wins the race.

At the start of the race, no. 71 BG Motorsport entry of Dan Kruger/Karl Roe/Ramon Alonso sprints into the lead, in just 3 laps it has established a 8.2 seconds gap over no. 9 Li Shu-Lian/Huang Shi-Zhao/Zhou Zhi-Rong, and the lead continues to extend.

On lap 14, no. 71 pits and loses its lead momentarily. No. 9 takes over the lead position with the gap at 29 seconds. On lap 18 it is no. 9’s turn to pit and by the time it resumes the race, no. 71 is already back in the lead with a gap of 54 seconds. In third place is no. 15 Zhou Hao-Yun and Hu Zhao-Neng. On lap 26, a bike runs off track at T14 but is able to re-join.

An hour into the race, no. 71 Kruger/Roe/Alonso has already completed 34 laps and lead no. 15 by more than 1 lap. No. 15, no. 9 and no. 40 all pitted on lap 41 to change riders. This means no. 71 extended its lead to more than 2 laps. But the gap between no. 15 and no. 9 is only 4.3 seconds, the two teams are fighting hammers and tongs against each other. Soon no. 9 re-takes second place and begins to pull away.

No. 29 ran into the sand trap at T10, with the marshals’ help it was able to re-join. At the same time, no. 15 overtakes no. 9 for second overall and the class 1 lead.

2 hours into the race and no. 71 has completed 68 laps and leads no. 15 by 3 laps. No. 9 is now 4 laps off the lead. If everything goes smoothly, no. 71 has a good chance of defending its crown and repeat its 103 lap result in 2011.

At 2 hours 12 minutes, no. 62 Guan Ying-Hao/Li Ke-Ning has an accident at T1 and requires the marshals help to get going again. At this time the gap between no. 9 and no. 15 has reduced from 1:33 to 1:11. The two teams continue to battle and on lap 77, the gap is further reduced to 56 seconds.

At 2 hours 20 minutes, no. 71 begins to slow down, the gap to no. 15 and no. 9 is now down to just 2 laps, while the gap between no. 15 and no. 9 is only 40 seconds. But soon no. 9 pits for a change and the gap opens up once more.

With 15 minutes to go, no. 71 has completed 92 laps and leads no. 15 by 2 laps, while no. 9 is a further 2 laps down. The top 3 looks set and the only question surrounds the battle for third place in class 1, where no. 62 Guan Ying-Hao/Li Ke-Ning chases no 36 Xu Wei-Lang/Zeng Rong-Qiu. The gap between them was 10 secondd but no. 62 was much faster and in just two laps managed to pass and takes second place in class.

No. 71 BG Motorsport’s Dan Kruger/Karl Roe/Ramon Alonso finally wins the race after completing 100 laps and setting a fastest lap of 1:38.326. 1st runners up overall is no. 15 Zhou Hao-Yun/Hu Zhao-Neng and 2nd runners up overall is Li Shu-Lian/Zhou Zhi-Rong/Huang Shi-Zhao. Class 1 is of course won by no. 71 Kruger/Roe/ Alonso. 1st runners up is Guan Ying-Hao/Li Ke-Ning and 2nd runners up is no. 36 Xu Wei-Lang/Zeng Rong-Qiu.

Class 2 winner is no. 15 Zhou Hao-Yun/Hu Zhao-Neng, second place goes to no. 9 Li Shu-Lian/Zhou Zhi-Rong/Huang Shi-Zhao and third place is no. 40 Zhao Song-Kai/Zhuang Zhi-Peng.