China Circuit Championship Race 4 (Zhuhai)

2000cc Changan Ford Racing Team

For Immediate Distribution Oct 06, 2008

Saturday---- Qualifying

CCC comes back to ZIC today after a long break due to the Olympics game. 2000cc class qualifying started at 2:50 p.m. in the afternoon. Changan Ford Racing Team did a remarkable job. Henry Lee, the lead driver in the team, took pole position and his best lap time was 1:51.467; Ben Zuo captured a convincing 3 rd . Rainey He was the fourth fastest. Thus, all three Ford Focus cars are going to start from the first and second row tomorrow. Zeng Shan Xi from TSB Racing captured second.

The weather condition has been quite unsettling in Zhuhai. Henry Lee's best lap time happened in lap 4. Rainey He had been the third fastest for a while until his teammate----Ben Zuo created a better lap time just before the qualifying session is over.

Changan Ford Racing Team tested in ZIC two times in June and July and the result came out quite satisfying. With the confident drivers, good preparation and the new look on the cars, Changan Ford Racing Team will certainly put on a nice show.

Sunday----Race

Pole sitter Henry Lee has to change his engine so he was hit with a 10-place grid penalty. The weather got worse in the afternoon, setting the stage for an exciting wet race. TSB Racing driver Zeng Shan Xi started from pole position.

Both Changan Ford drivers had a slow start. More bad news followed, Ben Zuo braked too late into a corner causing him out of the track and out of the race. Rainey He did a good job catching up and managed to make it to 3rd. Unfortunately, Rainey slid out at T12 with only 5 laps to go. Paul Poon from Team China Dragon won first place. Look Gan and Song Jian Cheng from Team LF captured 2nd and 3rd respectively. Team LF keeps leading the point table after this race.

After the race, Paul Hui, Marketing Director of FRD and Changan Ford Program Director, made the following comment;

"After doing a good job during qualifying and securing good starting positions Saturday, the whole situation became quite passive for the team starting Sunday. Henry's engine failed during the warm up session and we had to rush to change his engine. His chance of gaining significant points for the team was basically destroyed because he has to start the race from the 11th place in instead of from the pole due to this engine change.

The weather continued to fluctuate from minute to minute and the team made a good decision on tire selection this time on using an intermediate/wet combination. This combination allowed Rainey to stay very competitive for the whole race until the rain turned heavy towards the later stage of the race.

Drivers of car 2 and 3 had very slow start and committed minor errors but these minor errors, under wet condition, were already sufficient to eliminate them from the race.

Paul Poon, the race winner, definitely has provided us a driving lesson and how to maximize the benefits of the machine/tire package provided to him by his team. It is a very deserving win for Paul and I tip my hat to him and to his team.

I just had a meeting with Mr. Liu Kun, Changan Ford's new Motorsport manager and I thank him for his encouragement and support. We will go back to work immediately tomorrow morning and make sure we are at the best condition again for the next race. "

There are two races to go in this season. Changan Ford Racing Team should grasp every opportunity to defend their champion.

For more info please go to FRDwebsite:http://www.FRDsports.com