China Circuit Championship Race 5 (Chengdu)

2000cc Changan Ford Racing Team

For Immediate Distribution Nov 27, 2008

November 26th Qualifying

China Circuit Championship (CCC) was rescheduled to be held on Wednesday and Thursday in the newly established circuit—Chengdu International Circuit (CDIC). Most of the drivers are new to the track and how to get to know the track better is the first task for the drivers. Rainey He from Changan Ford Racing Team captured 2nd in qualifying, Henry Lee and Ben Zuo finished 4th and 8th. Lu Gan (Team LF) captured pole position.
Qualifying started in the afternoon, Rainey He (Changan Ford Racing Team) started with many slow cars on track and finished 2nd. Lu Gan won pole position and his best lap is 1'38"932, Huang Chuhan (Team SRT) finished 3rd.
Rainey indicated after the race that the team established an effective strategy for qualifying which leaded to a 0.9 second progress comparing to test. Henry Lee also ran into problems during qualifying and finishing 4th is quite convincing.

November 27 Race

The track temperature was higher comparing to qualifying and it was easier for the drivers to get in racing mode. The competition in 2000cc class was fierce. Rainey He & Henry Lee, two lead drivers from Changan Ford Racing Team put up a good performance. Rainey He, who started from 2nd finished 2nd while his teammate Henry Lee captured a convincing 4th and Changan Ford Racing Team won the team champion of CCC Race 5. It was team's first race in Chengdu International Circuit and the result is very satisfying.
After only two laps, four cars (Lu Gan, Henry Lee, Billy Tseng and Rainey He) already formed the leading group. Ben Zuo, the young promising driver from Changan Ford Racing Team, had to retired from the race due to technical problem. Rainey He didn't start well and he got overtaken by 2 cars and his teammate Henry Lee, on the other hand, did a good job catching up and followed Lu Gan closely for many laps. In mid-stage, Rainey got on his upswing and followed Billy Tseng closely. Rainey indicated after the race that the car brake started soft but back to normal from lap 3.
The excitement happened in the last 2 laps. Henry Lee, who had been the 2nd for many laps, suddenly slowed down due to loosing grip and Billy Tseng & Rainey He shortened the gap immediately and all three cars were running very close to each other and side by side is the relatively narrow section of the Chengdu track. Rainey He, who was sitting 4th overtook Billy from inside. In the end, Rainey managed to make to 2nd, Billy Tseng was 3rd and Henry captured 4th. Drivers all indicated that Chengdu track is very demanding on tyres and to win a race in there good tyres are essential.
After Chengdu race, the team champion trophy is already in Team LF's hand and the future of Changan Ford Racing Team is finally getting clear—with 13 points gained by Rainey and Henry, the team made up a lot of ground and is now sharing the 3rd place (33 points) with Huayang Racing team. Wahlong Racing team is still 2nd on points table but with only a small 5-point lead. Chengdu Race showed the public that Changan Ford Racing Team is a strong team and it is definitely on its upswing.
Now let's have a look at the drivers' points table—Lu Gan with 36 points is no doubt the driver champion in 2000cc class followed by Paul Poon (WahLong Racing) with 25 points. Rainey He (Changan Ford Racing Team) and Jiancheng Song (Team LF) have 20 points each and tie for 3rd place; Billy Tseng (Huayang Racing team) and Lu Ka Chun are tie for 5th place (18 points). The competition towards first runner-up will be the main attraction of the last race among Paul Poon, Rainey He, Jiancheng Song, Billy Tseng and Lu Ka Chun. The final race of CCC will be held in Shanghai in the second week of December, all the teams are reserving the suspense to the last fight and Changan Ford Racing Team will bring a splendid show at full blast..

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