05 Jul 2016 Circuit Hero One Race 1 - SLS dominates again

At 1:45 p.m. on 19 June, Circuit Hero One machines are on track for their first race of the wee0kend. The first race is the longer one and it comprises 15 laps, 5 more than the second race tomorrow. It is also the longest of any race for the weekend. With air temperature at 33 degrees C and track temperature likely reaching 50 degrees C, it will be a test of endurance for the drivers.

Guo Guo-Xin is on pole position in his Mercedes SLS GT3. John Shen is alongside him in his Porsche 997 GT3. Huang Xi-Zhan and Wu Qi-Hua are on role two in their Audi R8 LMS. For safety reasons, the race uses rolling starts. Guo Guo-Xin takes the lead at the start and the top 4 have no change in positions. At the end of lap 1, #66 Chen Zhong s race car spins around and is stopped on the track sideways.

On lap 3, #80 Ferrari tries to overtake #2 Xie Rui-Lin on the outside, but both turns 1 and 2 are right handers, the car on the inside line has an advantage and the move failed. Lap 3 and Guo Guo-Xin improves his lap time to 1:40 and extends his lead to 4 seconds. From lap 5 onwards, the leaders begin to hit traffic and the gap between Guo and Shen extends to 7 seconds.

On lap 12, #1 Wu Qi-Hua stops on the grass sideways and seems to have suffered a mechanical problem. He thus loses his fourth place overall and second place in GT class. On the last lap, Guo Guo-Xin s SLS still leads but its speed drops significantly, allowing John Shen in second place to close to within 4 seconds.

In the end Guo Guo-Xin crosses the line in first place, followed by John Shen, 3.7 seconds behind. Huang Xi-Zhan takes third place and wins GT class.

After the race, Guo Guo-Xin said, “This is a race that tests the driver physically and the cars endurance. It is very demanding on the car s tyres and brakes. These three items deteriorate greatly towards the end of the race. I deliberately slowed down near the end, just to ensure the win, since there is another race tomorrow, I cannot push the car too hard. I have changed the brakes for this race and so far it looks okay.”

John Shen said he was disappointed not to be able to keep up. “At turn 1 after the start, I actually followed the SLS closely. The SLS is new and has more power, so I wanted to follow it and look for a opportunity if he makes a mistake. But he was too quick and I could not keep up. Later I came across many backmarkers, and the gap grew between us. In the last two laps we got close again. Let s see what happens tomorrow, I hope I have a chance.” As for the hot weather, John said it was not an issue. “I take part in endurance races in Malaysia regularly, over there the temperature is even higher and the races are even longer. So it is not a problem. If the race is longer my advantage will be greater.”

Behind the GT class, the modified classes enjoyed much closer battles. Class C winner Wayne Shen said, “I qualified third and I made a good start. I passed two cars and took the lead in my class. But soon because of their superior power, they passed me back. Then I followed them for over 10 laps. Two laps before the end, the car in front of me had to move over for a GT car and I followed the GT car to pass him. Today I was very lucky. Hopefully I can challenge for the win in the next race. Anything can happen in such a challenging environment.”