07 Jul 2020 ZMA Touring Car Class A Race | Ma Ka Chun takes dominant win
Zhuhai International Circuit
On 5 July in the afternoon, the ZMA Touring Car Class A Race is held. The race sees a grid full of high performance GT and TCR race cars. The appearance of Circuit Hero race series drivers make this an even more fascinating race. In the end, Zun Motorsport Crew #77 Ma Ka-Chun wins overall.
In the qualifying session in the morning, Zun Motorsport Crew #77 Ma Ka-Chun performed brilliantly and took pole position by a big margin. The class A is scheduled to start at 15:10, all race cars use the same Pirelli racing tyres. The race utilizes a rolling start, pole position starter #77 Ma Ka-Chun makes a quick get away. #5 Zhu Hua-Yu, starting from last position, is up to fifth place after just one lap. But on lap 3 his car hits a problem and he stops at T13 and retires from the race.
The race enters lap 5, #77 Ma Ka-Chun continues to dominate by setting a fastest lap of 1:35.120, nearly 40 seconds ahead of second placed driver. He also begins to lap backmarkers. The order has settled down and there are few changes.
5 laps from the end, #11 Ruan Cun-Fan passes #18 Cheng Chun-Hua for fourth place overall. Afterwards both #6 Liao Dong-Cheng and #2 Liang Jiong-Rong both pass #18 for fifth and sixth places.
3 laps to go, #2 stops at T9 gravel trap. The marshals show the yellow flag and driver Liang Jiong-Rong has to surrender fifth place overall and top place in A6 class. Not long later #18 Cheng Chun-Hua also returns to the pit lane and sadly has to retire from the race. At this time the race leader Ma Ka-Chun is comfortably in the lead and laps the second placed driver. After this there are no more order changes. 9 drivers are able to complete the race. In the end, Zun Motorsport Crew #77 Ma Ka-Chun wins overall; second and third places go to Zun Motorsport Crew #28 Yang Bai-Jie and KRC Racing's #22 Wang Zhong-Wei
In the various classes, A1 class winner is #77 Ma Ka-Chun; A2 class is won by #22 Wang Zhong-Wei; A3 class top 2 are #28 Yang Bai-Jie and #6 Liao Dong-Cheng; A5 class top 3 are #11 Ruan Cun-Fan, $15 Tian Kai and #8 Liang Yong-Chao; A6 class winner is #1 Ye Guang-Wen and A7 class is won by #7 Chen Hao.
After the race, overall winner Ma Ka-Chun said, "This is the first official race for our team this year. I am very happy we have won it. My own skills and form has returned after the recent practices. For next year's Circuit Hero race, hopefully more and more teams and drivers will take part and make the races more exciting. I want to praise my teammate Yang Bai-Jie, he is racing here for the first time and he has done really well." Second place overall Yang Bai-Jie himself said, "My first official race, I am very emotional and very tired. I was a bit too nervous so I was not able to perform to my best ability. The time I managed was quite inferior to my practice time. I am already planning to enter next year's Pan Delta races. I want to perform on a bigger platform." Third place overall Wang Zhong-Wei said, "I am very happy to take third overall. I have never raced before. This was the first time I took part in an official race. I had to be fully focused and I felt it demanded a lot physically. If the opportunity arises in the future I will want to take part in a Pan Delta Circuit Hero races."