CTCC Round 5¡ªChangan Ford Racing Team Double Win Again
Date: 17-18 September 2011
Location: Shanghai International Circuit (SIC)
Round: 5
The fifth round of CTCC Championship was completed last weekend at Shanghai International Circuit. Changan Ford Racing Team continued the momentum and took home the team champion of this round, contributed by Rainey He and Andy Yan’ one-two finish.
Qualifying: Rainey gained the first position of the NA group.
It took more than an hour to complete the normally 30 minutes qualifying session which was red flagged as a result of a serious oil patch on T1 generated by a blown engine of a KIA vehicle.
At the end of the session, Rainey He who produced the fastest time of the NA engine group and lost the overall pole to Ken Look, the 2008 and 2009 CTCC driver champion who was recruited by the VW team for this race, by a slim margin of 0.03 second.
Other Changan Ford Racing Team drivers could not repeat the fast time that they produced in the morning practice session and could only start the Sunday race 5th, 6th and 7th on the grid.
Race: Rainey He stood on top of the podium with Andy Yan in second
The race started under sunny weather and comfortable temperature in front of twenty thousand plus supporters of the major manufacturers.
Rainey had one of his best starts and compounding with pole sitter Ken Look’s slight mistake on T1, he punched into the lead and never look back. Ken Look was able to drive back to the pit area but retired after finding unrepairable mechanical problem.
Andy Yan also had a perfect start and moved all the way up to second place followed by Gao Huayang of Team VW.
Safety car was sent out on lap 4 after a Polo and a Suzuki made contact on the main straight sending the Suzuki to the pit wall. After all the debris were cleared and the safety car left the circuit, Gao Huayang, using the horsepower advantage of the turbocharged Polo, started to apply pressure on Andy Yan but he was not able to overtake the experienced Changan Ford driver. Their fight also allowed Rainey He good breathing room to start increasing the gap gradually.
The other two Changan Ford drivers; Jiang Tengyi and Fan Gaoxiang drove aggressively trying to catch up to the two KIA cars which were sitting right behind the lead group. But they decided to ease the pace after not able to close the gap. All four Changan Ford race cars finished the race demonstrating once again the reliability of the Focus racing car.
At the end of the race, Rainey He and Andy Yan came home first and second gaining another team champion trophy, the fourth one out of five races, for Changan Ford.
After the race, Rainey He expressed: “I am very happy with the result and I really want to thank my teammate, Andy’s perfect defensive and protection provided to me. I had no worry about other drivers challenge throughout the race. Changan Ford Racing Team is a team focusing on the benefit of the team and cooperation. This victory not only belongs to me, it is also for the whole team. ”
Paul Hui, VP FRD MOTORSPORTS
"Very satisfying result and I am happy that we did a good job in front of the huge Changan Ford crowd who came to watch the race. This win moved us another step closer to the Season Team Championship. The turbocharged cars are moving up quickly and the pressure on us to counter this challenge will be intensive for next year. We are the best team and will find a way to fight this off as long as the playing field is kept leveled".
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