The circuit in Beijing was a 2.7km long street course, running around the Beijing Olympic aquatic park. A 22 lap Super League Formula support race was a build up to this CTCC round and because the race was held on regular roads, the teams were on a tight Friday – Sunday 3day schedule. The teams were struggling to find correct set ups because they had no data to base any settings on. Those favored for the race were drivers with experience on other street races such as the famous Macau race. The vital part of this race was not going to be the car, but more the driver’s true driving skills.
The concrete barriers surrounding the course left the drivers with pretty much no escape zones. The barriers prevented the drivers from scoping out the upcoming corners, leaving them no choice but to bravely dive in hoping to be on the best racing line. Exiting the corners was also no easy task as precise control was required from the drivers with the cars drifting out as close to the wall as possible trying not to lose any unnecessary speed on the outer racing line. Of course, one mistake would put the cars crashing into the wall, retiring them from the race.
The Saturday qualifying sessions were broken down to 4-5car groups with 10minutes each in a time attack system. In the 1600cc class the top positions went to the #15 Beijing Hyundai i30, #9 VW Polo, and #3 Nissan Tiida. In the 2000cc class the #2 Ford Focus, #12 Honda Accord and #7 Kia Forte filled the top spots. The 1600cc class had previously always had some kind of incident straight after the start however a rolling start this round allowed for a trouble free start. The two Beijing Hyundai i30 cars dominated the front straight from the start, with the VW Polo and Nissan Tiida’s following. A mid race crash by the Yaris caused the safety car to come out, but this did not affect the Beijing Hyundai team as they drove a near perfect race to take the win.
In the following 2000cc class disaster struck even before the green light. Just as the #3 Ford Focus rolled up in the starting grid formation, white smoke suddenly started fuming out from under the bonnet. The car had to be pushed back to the pits and the hard earned 4th spot on the grid was lost.
The top qualifying #2 Ford Focus and #12 Honda Accord went head to head throughout the race quickly leaving behind the others. In the second half of the race, the two skillfully past the slower cars and went on to take the checkered flag. Martin Cao in the #2 Ford Focus won the race starting from pole position! It was a sweet victory for him as he was able to avenge his unfortunate result in the previous round in Ordos where he was forced off the course by another car retiring him from the race.
Please look forward to more exciting action from the CTCC as the teams all head to Shanghai for round 7. |
