19 Mar 2017 Steady hands required as race sees lots of incidents (Circuit Hero-Three Race)

At 10:10 on 19 March, Circuit Hero-Three race commences. This year Circuit Hero-Three is run on a two driver per car format. There will be a change of drivers in the middle of the race. The race distance has also extended from 8 to 18 laps. The “couples class” where male drivers and female drivers or two female drivers team up, is of particular interest. In the qualifying session yesterday, #16 Gary Sham and Liu Qi took pole position with 1:54.124. #88 Lin Wei-Hong and Jerome Badaraco is second on the grid with 1:54.260. Third on the grid is Hu Qi-Ming and Tan Yun in their #70 race car.

The rain has been falling steadily. The track is very wet and poses a great challenge for the rookie drivers. #39 and #38, fourth and fifteen on the grid respectively, fail to start the race. Even polesitter #16 fails to appear on the grid. As the race begins, due to the pouring rain, the safety car is deployed to lead the field around the circuit.

The safety car continues to lead, by lap 4, #18 drops back to over 29 seconds from the cars in front of it, it might be suffering from a mechanical problem. Both #70 and #18 enter the pit lane on lap 5 for a change of drivers. The #66 all female entry is up to 10th place. On lap 7, the safety car leaves the circuit and the race really begins. Lap 8, #16 sets a 2:15.185 fastest lap in very wet conditions, the driver is really skillful. #81, who qualified in second place, goes off the track and is passed by many cars before it can return to the track. On lap 9, #16 is up to second place! They really have pushed very hard to go from 16th to 2nd. They are now 8 seconds behind the leader. #28 retires from the race after going off at turn 9. Then #16 makes a great mve and passes #88 for the lead. They also set a new race fastest lap of 2:10.154, that is 8 seconds faster than the 2nd placed car.

Then there was a notice for #33, as he overtook under yellow flag, he now needs to serve a drive-through penalty. #99 “Baldy” He Wei-Hang, who started at the back, is also on the move. He is up to 7th on lap 11. The race leading #16 enters the pits on lap 13 for a change of driver. #88 pits on the same lap, both return to the track.

#16 makes a big mistake at turn 4, the car goes off track and into the sand trap. The marshals wave the yellow warning flag. Now the order is #80, #70 and #18. #88 also goes off track at turn 4. Then #70 overtakes #81 for the lead, but on lap 17 #70 makes a mistake and gives up the lead. #18 is back in the lead again. The front two are separated by 5.78 seconds only. At the finish, #18 wins, #70 finishes a close second while #99 takes third place.

After the race, driver He Wei-Hang said, “Today the wet race was really exciting, I have been very lucky, there was a lot of accidents and to finish third overall and 1st in my class I am very satisfied.” He Wei-Hang’s partner Qi Yan said, “Today’s race was very exciting, although it was a wet race, I felt I performed better today than I did yesterday. I was doing so well I did not want to stop. I was racing in Sichuan Touring Car races before, but clearly Pan Delta is more fun and more professional. I would like to thank master He Wei Hang’s teachings, I had great fun today.”

Hu Qi-Ming said, “The windscreen was misted up and it affected my vision. It gave us a lot of difficulty and it meant we could not fight for the race lead. It was regrettable but we are still very happy to be second overall.”