Race1 for the GT Challenge ¨CByron Tong the Biggest Winner of the Day
Date: August 20-21st, 2011
Location: Shanghai International Circuit (SIC)
Round£º1&2 Rounds
The 1st & 2nd Round of the 2011 GT Challenge was held this weekend, August 20-21st, at the Shanghai International Circuit Series.
Qualifying- A New Qualifying Format
The GT Challenge series is trying out a new qualifying format for this year. There will be two qualifying sessions for the two races instead of using the previous system of Race 1 winner sitting on the pole of R2. The series will also continue to use the rolling start format. During the qualifying sessions in this morning, Byron Tong dominated the time sheet and won both poles positions. Eric Lo took second and Oliver Lee ranked third for the first race. For race 2, Kenneth Ma and Francis Hideki Onda took second and third respectively.
Round 1- Marks the First Time a Female Driver Wins A Class in the GT Challenge
In the first race, Oliver Lee had a good start and overtook Byron Tong to take the lead. But he had to give up that lead back to Bryon by lap eight after intensive pressure applied from Bryon. Zheng Ting, a driver from Shanghai, who started from grid position 5, went straight to third position in lap one but had to relinquish his good position after experiencing electrical problem. Francis Hideki Onda took the opportunity and moved up to third position and stayed there until the end of the race. At last, Byron Tong won the race, Oliver Lee and Francis Hideki Onda got the second and the third place respectively. Diana Rosario, a female driver from Macau, finished the race in fifth position but good enough to put her in the first place of the A group which is running the lower power Ferrari 360 cars. This marked the first time a female driver won A class in the GT Challenge. The 1st runner-up was Ivo Yiu, also from Macau, and the 2nd runner-up position was captured by Alex Wong.
Round 2- Byron Tong Double Winner of the Day
The second round began at 17:10 in the afternoon. Eric Lo was at the leading position from the very beginning of the race to the end but was penalized for passing before crossing the timing line during the start. He still could stand on the podium and collect the 1st runner-up trophy even after this penalty. Byron Tong, who fought with Eric through out the race for the lead, became the biggest winner of the day after collecting his second win of the day. The third place went to Francis Hideki Onda again after a very consistent performance. Diana Rosario won the A group again. Ivo Yiu collected the third place while the second position was won by a 15 year-young driver, Shaun Thong. We might be seeing a bright young star in the making.
Until now, the game has ended with the Byron Tong ranked first with 60 points, Francis Hideki Onda ranked second with 40 points. And Kenneth Ma got the third place in the point standing with 34 points. As for A group, Diana Rosario ranked first with 60 points; Ivo Yiu ranked second with 44 points and Alex Wong ranked third with 37 points respectively. GT Challenge just began with the first two rounds, let’s expecting the next games to bring us more exciting moments.
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