15 Sep 2012 Circuit Hero II qualifying: Dark clouds gather
With the warm sun slowly setting in the west, the racing on Saturday also slowly draws to a close. After the Audi R8 LMS Cup, Circuit Hero I and AFR Series races, CIrcuit Hero II qualifying session begins. With so many entrants, the organizers have no choice but split them into two groups by engine capacity. This way the drivers will be more able to show off their skills.
In the first session, Gary Sham's Honda DC5 demonstrates great speed, managing a 1:51s lap on just his second lap. Wei Chao-Yin, who just won the Circuit Hero I race, has also entered this race using a Honda DC5. He does a 1:54 on his second lap and is third fastest. Famous Circuit Hero driver He Wei-Hang takes his Honda Civic around in 1:54.8 lap, good enough for fourth. Second is currently Hong Bing-Xue, who drives a turbocharged Honda Fit.
The session quickly comes to a close. Gary Sham's fastest lap on lap six, 1:51.517, proves to be unbeatable. Hong Bing-Xue takes second with a 1:53.237 while Wei Chao-Yin takes third place with a time of 1:54.473.
The second session consists of cars that are closer to the public. Honda Fit, Suzuki Swift and Peugeot 206 etc are very commonly seen on the public roads. The cars may have smaller engines but they are not slow. #77 Wei Jian-Feng post a 2:10s lap early in the session, the lap time quicker than many of the big engine runners. On lap 3, he improves by a second.
#15 Honda Fit driver Lin Zhe is a class 3 entry. On lap 2 he posts a 2:10s lap to take second place. But the result is soon beaten by #82 race car by 0.3s. On lap 5, Wei Jian-Feng post another fast lap, a 2:06s, to take 21st place overall. Many class B and class F cars, with bigger engines, are now behind him.
The lap times of the two sessions will be combined to form the grid for the race tomorrow at 2:15pm. With a grid of 48 cars, the car will line up all the way to turn 14. This scene is a truly rare sight in national motorsports. How will they fare? Come to ZIC and find out!