AUGUST 12 2024 – RACE REPORT ZHEJIANG
ZHANG Zhi Qiang led team-mate MA Qing Hua to a pair of 1-2 finishes in a pair of thrilling races at the Zhejiang International Circuit, with ZHANG extending his lead in the drivers’ championship, while Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport now have a strong margin in the teams’ classification.
The team was joined by FIA TCR World Tour star MA Qing Hua in the #33 Lynk & Co 03 TCR, driving alongside the team’s usual trio of ZHANG, Sunny WONG, and Juan Carlos ZHU for the third event of the 2024 TCR China and China Touring Car Championship season.
The team hit the ground running all the way from first practice, finishing 1-2 in both sessions, with MA leading the first practice and ZHANG on top in the second.
Qualifying
The team got all four of its cars through to Q2, but unfortunately WONG had to stop on track at the end of Q1 with a temperature warning and wasn’t able to take part in Q2, and was therefore classified with the 12th fastest time.
ZHU set the first benchmark in Q2, before ZHANG found another two-tenths of a second to go faster still, claiming pole position.
With MA carrying the full 40kg of compensation weight, the team opted to split its approach in qualifying with MA aiming to be as low in the top ten so to be as far up the grid for in the reversed grid second race as possible. MA went on to qualify sixth overall, securing fifth for Race 6.
Race 5
ZHANG and ZHU led the way into the first turn from the front row, while WONG made a great start and was already up to eighth place, but his race unravelled a lap later when he was hit by Andy YAN’s Hyundai at Turn 3 and stopped with damage, causing the first safety car.
It was an inauspicious start to the race for the team as ZHU stopped on track just after the restart and was out of second place with an engine issue, but thankfully the team’s bad luck in this race ended there.
MA was flying after the second safety car pulled in, diving past Martin CAO’s Hyundai in a move he’d set up from the final corner on lap 12, completing the pass with an excellently executed pass at Turn 1 and moved up to third.
MA then caught and passed the Honda of Martin XIE just a lap later for second, and went on to complete a Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport 1-2.
Race 6
The team’s drivers were in tough starting positions for the reversed grid race, with MA starting fifth, ZHANG ninth, WONG 11th and ZHU down in 14th.MA wasted no time and was quickly making up ground, and by the end of the first lap he was already up to second place.MA then took the lead from XIE’s Honda with a move down the inside at the Turn 13 hairpin on lap three.
ZHANG was in a fierce battle with title rival CAO and his Hyundai team-mate YAN just outside of the podium positions, but ZHANG was able to get ahead of the two drivers just before the safety car was called out for one lap to clear some debris on lap 12.
After the safety car came in, ZHANG was again quickly on the move, passing XIE’s Honda for third at the final corner before overtaking HE with an incredible pass at Turn 1 on lap 16.MA, who’s not racing the full season, then backed off and allowed ZHANG through into the lead to take the victory, and lead another 1-2 finish for the team.
It was a tougher race for ZHU and WONG. ZHU had initially made great progress from his lowly grid position, which had come about following an engine change, and had made it up to seventh before pitting with a mechanical issue.
WONG was running well inside the top ten before he was pushed off at Turn 1 after the restart and fell to the back of the pack, recovering to finish the race in 12th.Overall, it was an incredible weekend for Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport, topping every session and taking the maximum points on the table for ZHANG and the team to extend its lead in both championships.ZHANG now leads the drivers’ championship on 222 points, 28 clear of CAO – while Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport lead the teams’ title on 414, 149 points ahead of Hyundai N.
The next round of the championship takes place at the Ningbo International Circuit on September 6-8th.
What the drivers said
ZHANG ZHi Qiang #36
This was an incredible race weekend for myself and the team.The team gave me an incredible car all weekend, and I can’t thank them enough for their effort.
We controlled qualifying and the first race, while the second race was one of the most exciting of my career, fighting my way past some very tough competitors. I have to thank my team-mate MA for being a perfect team player and letting me past for the win – we’ve had a fantastic weekend and that gives us great momentum heading to Ningbo.
MA Qing Hua #33
It was great to be back racing with the Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport team, it’s been a while, and it’s also been a while since I’ve driven this specification of the Lynk & Co, but as we’ve showed it’s still a very good car and the team did an amazing job.
We played the game in qualifying which actually gave me a lot of work to do in both races as I had to make passes in both races starting from fifth each time, but we did it and it was incredibly fun. Obviously I’m not here for the full season, so I helped the team and ZHANG by letting him through when he got up to second.
Sunny WONG #12
It’s been a mixed weekend for me, but thankfully not for the team who had a fantastic weekend. Unfortunately a problem in qualifying put me in the danger zone in both races, and my first race lasted barely two laps before I was taken out.
I had a great run in the second race and was on course to score some good points before I was pushed out at Turn 1. I still managed to get some positions back and picked up something. Thanks to the team for the great car, and congratulations to ZHANG and MA for an excellent weekend.
Juan Carlos ZHU #5
It’s a weekend about what could have been for me. We showed we had the pace to fight for victory after qualifying just two-tenths from pole, but then I had to stop in the race with an engine issue, and as we had to change the engine for the second race I was even further out of position with the engine change penalty.
The car had good speed and I’d made up seven places before I had to stop again – so two DNFs really doesn’t really show our potential, as proven by ZHANG and MA, but it was a brilliant weekend for the team and it’s good to know the potential’s there as we go to Ningbo.
