18 Mar 2017 Audi R8 LMS claims pole position in the rain (Circuit Hero-One Qualifying)

At 9:55 on 18 March 2017, the 20 minutes long Circuit Hero-One qualifying session begins at Zhuhai International Circuit. 19 cars from 4 different classes will have to fight for grid positions before commencing battle twice this weekend.

There has been slight drizzles in Zhuhai recently. Although there was no rain yesterday, there is slight rain today and the track is partly wet.

#4 Audi R8 LMS driver Chai Hui-Bang sets the ball rolling with a 1:56.324 lap time. A few laps later he improves to 1:50.893. Liu Peng and Anthony Chan are second and third with 1:52.290 and 1:56.445 respectively.

As time passes, the #99 Audi R8 LMS driven by Chen Wei-An finds form and manages a 1:49.500. Fellow Audi R8 LMS driver, #88 Liu Peng also pushes his time up to 1:50.599. Chai Hui-Bang is third with 1:50.893. The qualifying session is half way through and the top 3 are more or less set. The Audi R8 LMS seems quite suited to rainy conditions.

With six minutes to go the session was temporarily halted due to red flag. Chen Wei-An (1:47.400), Chai Hui-Bang (1:49.276) and Liu Peng (1:50.599) are the top 3 and they seem satisfied with their performances. They have not gone back out on track after the red flag is withdrawn. #82 Pu Shu in the Porsche 997 is in fourth place. He is still trying to get up to third place but even though he manages to improve to 1:50.993, he is still 0.4 second behind Liu Peng.
In the end, Chen Wei-An takes pole position with 1:47.400. Debutant Chai Hui-bang is second with 1:49.276. Liu Peng is third with 1:50.599.

With qualifying over, the rain begins to stop and a ray of sunshine appears. The unstable weather provides many uncertainties for the coming races. There maybe even more twists and turns to come.