18 Mar 2017 Chen Bing-Xiong’s new BRZ overcomes army of TCR race cars for pole position (Circuit Hero-Two qualifying)
At 4:10 on 18 March afternoon, Circuit Hero-Two race cars appear on track for their qualifying session. The 36 cars are divided into two groups, each group will have 20 minutes for qualifying. This will allow the drivers to have more space on track to perform. First on track are the A1 and A2 classes.
The race cars in the A1 and A2 classes have bigger engines and more freedom in modifications. The best placed qualifiers in this group will usually end up being on the front of the starting grid. The drivers will of course try to qualify near the front in order to have a better chance in the race.
A1 and A2 class race cars include SEAT Leon, VW Scirocco, Honda Civic, VW Golf, Toyota Yaris, Subaru BRZ… etc. They are highly modified and are very quick. Chen Bing-Xiong’s Subaru BRZ is rear wheel driven, he said his car will not perform in the rain as well as his front wheel driven rivals, so yesterday he was concerned about the weather. But for now the session seems to be free from rain. All 12 drivers will be able to perform on a dry track.
These two classes of Circuit Hero-Two qualify on their own not just because there are too many cars entered in the race, also because the small capacity cars will affect their best laps. After the track opens, #18 Chen Bing-Xiong proceeds to make a best lap of 1:46.907 to be on provisional pole. After that he returns to the pits. #1 driver Tan Hao-De takes second with 1:47.397. #21 Civic TCR driver Sitao Yong-Xin is third with 1:47.845.
With the drivers improving as they find their forms, #1 Tan Hao-De gets himself up to 1st place. Then he returns to the pits for more adjustments. Chen Bing-Xiong, not to be out done, returns to the track and post a 1:44.081 to topple him. He is the only one capable of breaking into 1:45s.
As all the drivers try to improve their times, the session is over. Foshan Xiongzhi Racing’s Chen Bing-Xiong takes 1st place with 1:44.081. TRC Racing’s Tan Hao-De is second in his Honda Civic TCR with 1:46.826. Shitao Yong-Xin and Huang Dong-Xiong are third and fourth. We look forward to the race tomorrow.
|
Class
|
Pos
|
No.
|
Driver
|
Best lap
|
|
A1
|
1
|
1
|
Tan Hao-De
|
1:46.826
|
|
2
|
21
|
Situ Yong-Xin
|
1:47.845
|
|
|
3
|
26
|
Huang Dong-Xiong
|
1:48.601
|
|
|
A2
|
1
|
18
|
Chen Bing-Xiong
|
1:44.081
|
|
2
|
9
|
Li Jin-Han
|
1:49.203
|
|
|
3
|
68
|
Liu Jian-Long
|
1:49.418
|
|
|
A3
|
1
|
59
|
Huang Gui-Hua
|
1:50.264
|
|
2
|
13
|
Wang Guo-Yu
|
1:51.917
|
|
|
3
|
31
|
Guo Bin
|
1:52.672
|
|
|
A5
|
1
|
3
|
Liu Yi
|
1:52.385
|
|
2
|
29
|
Qiu Kai-Wen
|
1:54.782
|
|
|
3
|
12
|
Chen Yong-Tong
|
1:55.080
|
|
Time
|
Content
|
|
16:25
|
#77 stops on T4 grass
|
|
16:26
|
#66 stops at T1 sand trap with smoke. Fire services extinguishes fire.
|
|
No.
|
Content
|
|
Stewards’ decision #15
|
#37 under-weight, its results are cancelled.
|