05 Jul 2016 Circuit Hero One Race two - Mercedes SLS continues its winning streak

At 10:30 a.m. on 19 June, Zhuhai International Circuit is shined upon by bright sunshine. From yesterday s results, Guo Guo-Xin s Mercedes SLS GT3 starts from pole position. His rival John Shen is second in his Porsche 997 GT3. Both cars are in the GT3 class, the highest class in Circuit Hero race series.

Guo Guo-Xin makes a good start from pole position and John Shen is also on good form today, getting his car closer to the leader than he did yesterday. Chen Yi-Nian, who had an accident yesterday, started from the back today, he was up to 15th by lap 2.

On lap 3, #7 Bill O Brien s Caterham spilled out a lot of smoke and it looked like engine failure. Guo Guo-Xin continues to lead and on lap 4 he set the fastest lap 1:39.422.

On lap 9, Wu Qi-Hua begins to chase down Huang Xi-Zhan s similar Audi R8 LMS, the gap between them is just 0.2 second. On the main straight, Wu Qi-Hua pulled out from behind to overtake Huang Xi-Zhan for the GT class lead. By lap 5 his lead grows to 6 seconds. John Shen is second, Huang Xi-Zhan is third and Wu Qi-Hua is fourth.

On lap 7, Wu Qi-Hua is right up behind Huang Xi-Zhan. This is a battle for GT class win. On lap 9, Wu Qi-Hua is almost pushing Huang Xi-Zhan on the straight. The gap is just 0.2 second! Wu Qi-Hua pulls out from Huang Xi-Zhan s slipstream on the main straight and passes him.

At the chequered flag, Guo Guo-Xin completed his double win without problem. John Shen finished second again while Wu Qi-Hua takes third place and GT class win. Huang Xi-Zhan was fourth overall.

After the race, Guo Guo-Xin said, “This weekend I have been lucky. The weather is very hot and physically very demanding. But afterwards it feels good to have overcome it. Today I made a good start and got away a little. On lap 4 I was already clear so I said to myself not to push. Overall, this was a beautiful race.”

Wu Qi-Hua was very happy with his class victory. “Yesterday at the last corner I had a problem so the result was not good. Today I performed well, starting sixth, finishing third overall and first in class. I am very satisfied. The final pass was actually quite easy, probably because he had a problem. I did not target to pass him at first, only catching him two laps from the end. I followed him for a lap and then he had a problem on the straight and slowed down. I pulled out, passed and that was it. I am very happy to have won the class.”

Chen Yi-Nian, who retired yesterday, performed well today. “Yesterday the car had some problems and overheated. I also suffered a heat stroke. The weather was too hot and the race was too long. Both man and machine had problems. Today overall I raced conservatively, I was not aggressive at all. To be among the GT cars and finishing first in class, it felt very good. GT cars are quicker than us and it was a little dangerous on the track, but if we can go faster than the GT cars are a good challenge. I like this kind of race.”