SEPTEMBER 10 2024 – RACE REPORT NINGBO
Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport put on a strong performance at Geely’s home circuit, the Ningbo International Circuit, with David ZHU and ZHANG Zhi Qiang both finishing on the podium, and the team leaving with its key target achieved, leading the battle for all three of the titles.
Ningbo was the scene for the fourth event of the 2024 TCR China Touring Car Championship, and the team revised its driver line-up for the weekend, with the return of David ZHU aboard the #9 03 TCR, while Hong Kong superstar Aaron KWOK made his touring car return with the team, entering in the competitive TCR China Challenge support class.
Qualifying
ZHANG Zhi Qiang was the top qualifier for the team, setting the fourth quickest time in Q2, just seven-tenths from the ultimate pace, while David ZHU was close behind in sixth, while Sunny WONG was tenth in the ten-minute session.
Race 7
ZHU made a brilliant start and he was soon up to fourth. That became third when he made a brilliant move at the chicane to overtake Hong Kong driver LO Sze Ho to move into the final podium placing, which he’d hold on to the end of the race, steadily pulling away.
WONG was already making fast progress from his back of the grid position and had broken into the top ten by lap three.ZHANG was also on the move, and he was fighting the Hyundais by lap five, first passing Rainey HE before getting past one of the privateer Audis for sixth on lap six.The next target was former champion Andy YAN, who proved very difficult to pass, running ZHANG wide as he tried to get past at Turn 12.
ZHANG managed to gather himself up and regain the positions he lost to close up on YAN and finally complete the pass at Turn 12 again on lap 11.One lap later and the race was under the safety car after one of the Audis slammed into the rear of WONG’s Lynk & Co, puncturing his rear tyre.WONG was able to recover to the pit lane for a new tyre, but finished down in 14th with the race finishing behind the safety car.ZHU finished third, with ZHANG an impressive sixth.
Race 8
WONG started from fourth on the reversed grid, with ZHANG just two places behind, but ZHANG was on a mission in this race, bolting through the field from his sixth place position to take second by the end of the first lap.
ZHANG’s next target was his Race 7 rival YAN, but he got past him with no dificulty on lap three at Turn 12 and began to pull away from the field.
The excitement was now in the middle of the top ten, as both ZHU and WONG were fighting their way forwards. ZHU was caught in a battle with the Hyundais, and had made his way all the way up to fourth until he slipped wide and fell down the order, and eventually finished the race in seventh, thanks to WONG relinquishing the spot to him on the final lap.
What should have been an easy victory for ZHANG turned into heartbreak with two laps to go when he slowed with an electronics system failure and dropped from first to third at the finish.
Despite this, ZHANG rescued key points with his podium finish and crucially holds on to his drivers’ championship lead.ZHANG Zhi Qiang leads the drivers’ championship on 277 points, six clear of his nearest rival.Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport continue to dominate the teams’ classification on 513 points, 130 points clear.The Lynk & Co 03 TCR also leads the models’ classification on 513 points, 103 points ahead of Hyundai.
The next round of the TCR China championship takes place with the FIA TCR World Tour at the Zhuzhou International Circuit on October 18-20.
TCR China Challenge
In the competitive TCR China Challenge series, Aaron KWOK made his debut in the category with Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport, qualifying his Lynk & Co 03 TCR in 12th position.
Unfortunately, the star driver was caught up an incident ahead of him at the first corner and was forced to retire.
KWOK bounced back in Race 2 however and put on a valiant drive to charge up the order and finish seventh on his TCR return, ten months since he last raced at the Macau Touring Car Cup in 2023.
What the drivers said
ZHANG Zhi Qiang #36
This was a good weekend for me, though it could have had more of a fairytale ending.The car was fantastic in the second race and we showed what an incredible car we had before the systems issue.
We also had some exciting battles in the first race, with a good bit of touring car contact.I’m happy to be leading the drivers’ championship, though we’ll have to work hard to make sure we keep it at Zhuzhou.
David ZHU #9
We had a good race weekend here at Ningbo. It was great to be on the podium again, we had a quick car, and in the second race is was probably even faster, but it’s very difficult to pass here, and there were quite a few scrapes.
It was a good touring car race, and I’m really looking forward to Zhuzhou.My main aim is to help with the teams’ and models’ championships, and we did an excellent job there this weekend.
Sunny WONG #12
There was a lot of action this weekend, and unfortunately sometimes I was at the bad end of it. We had good pace in qualifying, but an engine change penalty put us in the danger zone and we were taken out late in the first race.
I had a bad start in the second race and had to fight for points, which we achieved.All-in-all a good weekend for the team, and puts us in good stead for Zhuzhou next month.
Aaron KWOK #88
It was great to be back into a race car, and into racing at a more typical circuit after Macau, but it’s been a while since I last raced so it hasn’t been easy.
I had great support from the team and drivers of Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport all weekend.I’m in better shape for racing this year having just finished my tour, and it’s great to be back in TCR China where the field is still growing and is very competitive.
It was unfortunate I was caught up in someone else’s accident in my first race back, but the Lynk & Co 03 is not only a fantastic, but also very safe race car.
