NOVEMBER 19 2024 – RACE REPORT MACAU
Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport secured the 2024 TCR China teams’ and models’ championships convincingly and with a race to spare at the thrilling season finale of both the TCR China and FIA TCR World Tour championships at Macau, despite challenging conditions throughout the rain and typhoon-hit event.
The weekend started with heavy rain affecting both of the practice sessions on Thursday, with the circuit only just drying by the end. Despite the fact rain had hit during the previous race at Zhuzhou, after it fell mid-race everyone competed with slick tyres, and so this was the team’s and drivers first experience of the Kumho wet tyre.
Qualifying
Further rain on Saturday morning meant that qualifying also started in the wet, but was drying throughout the session. David ZHU set a fantastic lap to break into the top 12 in the first part of qualifying to fight with nine of the TCR World Tour drivers, while ZHANG Zhi QIang just missed the cut by just two-tenths of a second and would qualify in 13th place overall (and fourth in the TCR China class) for both of the weekend’s two races, while Sunny Wong and Juan Carlos ZHU were 20th and 21st overall.
David ZHU would go on to qualify 11th, just missing out on pole position for the reversed grid on Sunday, but was in a good place to score teams’ points in the two races.
Race 11
ZHU let title contender ZHANG past at the start of the race and the two drivers found themselves encountering a blocked track just after Lisboa, when one of the TCR World Tour cars spun around and caused a pile-up. The team’s drivers were smart enough to slow down and avoid damaging their cars. A third of the grid were unable to take the restart, but all of Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport’s cars were able to.
The team continued on with ZHANG and ZHU taking a formation second and third in TCR China and ninth and tenth place overall, and this secured both Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport the teams’ championship, and the Lynk & Co 03 TCR the models’ championship with a race to spare.
Sunny WONG crossed the line in sixth in the TCR China class, 16th overall, while Juan Carlos ZHU sadly stopped with an electronics issue with five laps to go.
Race 12
Going into Sunday, the team had an outside chance of winning the drivers’ title, but it would be tough. The weather had changed overnight and heavy rain hit the Guia circuit which caused the race to be postponed by two hours as the weather conditions started to improve.
The track conditions required wet tyres at the start, but would soon improve so that slicks would be the best option, but with making the finish key to stand any chance of lifting the drivers’ title, the team opted to run the wet tyres on all four cars.
ZHU again dropped behind ZHANG to defend his team-mate’s rear, which proved crucial, as a concertina effect at the Melco hairpin saw the cars ahead cause a back up of cars, and behind ZHU a slick-shod Rob Huff locked up and ran into the rear of his car, causing damage though he was able to continue.
A late-race safety car bunched the field up and ZHANG started right behind his title rival, but a battery issue caused him to stop on the final lap and end his title aspirations for the 2024 season.
It was still a strong finish for the team, with ZHU finishing the race fourth in the TCR China class and 15th overall despite the damage to his Lynk & Co, and with Sunny WONG and Juan Carlos ZHU sixth and seventh in TCR China (17th and 18th overall).
The team ends the season on a high, as the teams’ and models’ championships are the Teamwork Motorsport’s ninth and tenth titles in the TCR Asia and TCR China championships ever since the Hong Kong and Guangdong-based team started working with the exciting new Lynk & Co brand at the start of 2020, just five years ago.
What the drivers said
ZHANG ZHi Qiang #36
I’m delighted to have helped the team win both the teams’ and models’ championship, it’s a just reward for all the effort put into this season.
I went into the last race with a one-point lead in the drivers’ championship, but it was always going to be difficult as Macau is not as strong a track for our car as it is for our rivals who have later models.
Still, we can be happy with what we’ve achieved this year, and I look forward to coming back and fighting for more titles in 2025.
David ZHU #9
My qualifying was good, and I was nearly tenth which would have given us pole position for the Guia race.In Saturday’s race, we just stayed where we were so we could safely secure the teams’ championship.
In the Guia race, we opted for the wet tyres, which proved not to he the way to go. At the hairpin I was hit by Rob, and he hit me into Jason.I missed one race this year and so I wasn’t in a position to fight for another drivers’ title, but hopefully next season we’ll be there to fight for all three titles again.
Sunny WONG #12
I’m very glad I finished both races and got points for the TCR China series. It was a bit unfortunate for Jason.In terms of the team effort, we did our best.Our Lynk & Co last year wasn’t very competitive at Macau, but we managed to do a better job this year here.
Hopefully next year we’ll have an upgrade. It’s been a good experience for TCR China to have two rounds with the FIA TCR World Tour, which if it continues will certainly help to promote the strength of the Chinese series.
Juan Carlos ZHU #72
First of all, congratulations to the team for winning the drivers’ and models’ titles, and for ten titles in five years, it’s quite an achievement.
This has been my first year with the team, though I missed the last two rounds as my car was driven by Aaron KWOK and MA Qing Hua, and so maybe I’m a little rusty!
We had a small issue in the first race and couldn’t make the finish, but the team resolved it for the Guia race and we had a good run and stayed out of trouble, which at Macau is quite an achievement.
