17 Dec 2014 Circuit Hero 500km Endurance Race - Race report
14 December 2014, Circuit Hero 500km Endurance Race is held at Zhuhai Internatioanl Circuit. 34 cars have been entered for this race and they are divided into 5 classes based on engine size. Today's weather is very good with clear skies and good sunshine, very suitable for racing.
Right at the start, #2 Guo Guo-Xin/Huang Xi-Zhan's Mercedes Benz SLS AMG uses its immense power to take the lead. But the #71 Ferrari 458 of Xu Wei/Tommy Chan are able to keep pace. In third place, #98 Huang Yi-Bo/Chen Lin-Ming/Webb/Acosta's Lotus Exige is unable to keep up and on lap 6 is overtaken by #12 Jon Flinn/Troy Williams' Radical.
In class D, which is comprised of only VW Sciroccos, the leader is #99 Mantori/Engel/Miraglia's entry. Class B is led by #216 Wayne Shen/Mike in their Renault Clio. Meanwhile in class C, #17 Li Chun-Jie/Liao Yi-Cheng are in the lead. The fastest lap of the race is set by the #2 Mercedes with a 1:40.293 time.
With half an hour gone, #2 and #71 have completed 18 laps and the gap between them is just 10 seconds. #98 in third place is already over a minute behind. #2 pits on lap 21 for fuel and a change of driver, but its stop is problematic and the team loses a lot of time. On the contrary the #71 Ferrari makes a good stop. When both cars return to the track, #71 leads #2 by 30 seconds. The #98 Lotus Exige also has a terrible stop and loses 3 laps in the pits. It rejoins 3 laps down and is in 13th place. Third place overall is now occupied by #7 Caterham driven by Bill O'Brien/Scott Wrayton, followed by #12 Jon Flinn/Troy Williams in their Radical. Class D is now led by #38 William Lok/Bradley/Soong. Other classes see no lead changes.
On lap 34, #2 Mercedes re-takes the lead from the #71 Ferrari. On the next lap, #99 Scirocco breaks down on the main straight. For safety reasons, the race officials sends out the safety car to allow the rescue vehicle to tow the stranded Scirocco away from its position. The race re-starts on lap 37 with #2 still in the lead.
#2 begins to extend its lead over #71 by 3 seconds a lap and on lap 40 it enjoys a 10 seconds advantage. The situation in the other classes are fairly stable, even in the one make class D, with #38 leading by 23 seconds.
On lap 46, leader #2 Mercedes is in the pits but it has suffered a mechanical problem and is unable to re-join the race. #71 thus takes a comfortable lead over the #7 Caterham, which is 2 laps down.
At the 2 hours mark, #71 has completed 51 laps and is way ahead of #12 Jon Flinn/Troy Williams. #7 Caterham is in third place and class D is now led by the Japanese trio of Masahiko/Yamamoto/Otsuki in their #22 car.
With 45 minutes to go, #18 Chen Jian-Rong/Liu Yang/Sun Qiang hits the wall at turn 10. The race officials therefore sends out the safety car once again so that the vehicle can be removed. The timing of this safety cars seems to suit many teams, as many of them pit for fuel and driver changes.
With 20 minutes to go, #71 still leads comfortably and the win is more or less secured. #7 is in second place and it is 20 seconds ahead of the two Radicals. In class D, William Lok/Bradley/Soong continue to hunt down the #22 car, with just 7 seconds between the two. Class B and C are led by #216 and #11 respectively and they are not under any threat. As #71 completes lap 87, #38 William Lok/Bradley/Soong finally passes the Japanese #22 car for the class lead.
On lap 91, #18 has another accident at turn 9, the car is stuck in the sand trap and is unable to move. But since its position poses no danger to the other drivers, the race continues.
In the end, #71 Xu Wei/Tommy Chan wins the race and the open class in their Ferrari 458. #7 Caterham of Bill O'Brien/Scott Wrayton wins class A and is second overall. In class B, #216 Wayne Shen/Mike takes the win in their Renault Clio; class C is won by the Nissan Sunny of Li Chun-Jie/Liao Yi-Cheng which completed 74 laps. Finally William Lok/Bradley/Soong takes the win in class D, completing 88 laps.