(Shanghai, China - September 4, 2005) Continuing where he left off in China, Hanss Lin of Champ Motorsports won both races at the Shanghai International Circuit. So far he has won all the Chinese races of the Asian Formula Renault Challenge promoted by FRD Motorsports.The only two races he did not win were the ones in Sepang Malaysia.Second place went to Yoshihisa Namekata of the Person¡¯s Racing Team FRD + Winds and 3rd went to Liu Yang of the Huawin Racing Team.
As far as the drama is concerned, it started even before the race started!As the cars left the garages, the track was dry with some clouds up in the sky.The mechanics were all sure of a dry race, so all the teams used slicks and a full dry setup.The cars stopped on the grid with about 15mins to go and there was a bit of a drizzle, but the track was still completely dry.With less than 10mins to go, all of a sudden it began to pore down rain!Since there was less than 10mins before the start of the race, all the teams rushed to change the tires for rain tires.With almost half the cars on the grid with rain tires mounted, the rain stopped and looked like slicks were the way to go.Now the teams had to rush even harder to change the rain tires back to slicks!One car that did not make it on time was Shanghai resident Michael Ting of the Asia Racing Team.He was forced to start on rain tires, but at least got to start in his place, 3rd.The only other driver to start on rain tires was Henry Lee Jr. of the Shangsai FRD Team who gambled on the prediction of more rain.
At the start, Chinese Red Bull Junior driver Jim Kato got the jump and led Hanss Lin through the first few turns.Following Lin closely were the two Person¡¯s Racing Team FRD + Winds drivers Takuya Nishitani and Namekata.Half way through the first lap, Lin started attacking Kato trying to pressure him into a mistake.On the long parabolic turn before the back straight, Lin passed Kato.But then as Lin started braking for the Hairpin, he got a bit loose and went of line loosing momentum.Kato then reclaimed the lead for a few meters, till he also went off line on the exit and lost it again to Lin!And this was all just in the first lap!
After Hanss Lin took the lead, it was just like all the other races where he took the lead before; he kept pulling away until his challengers were well behind. Next bit of action was Nishitani trying to pass Kato for 2nd place.He finally succeeded by pressuring Kato enough into a spin on the last corner.This also let teammate Namekata move up a spot into 3rd, and Kato down to 4th.
On Lap three the safety car came out for Victor Yung who¡¯s car was stuck on the main straight after a spin.On the restart Jim Kato boldly tried a pass on the outside of Turns 1, 2 and 3, but instead lost a spot to Liu Yang.He quickly took his place back in just a few corners though.
Kato who is known for his daring passes on the outside, tried it again at the end of the Back Straight.But this time it did not go quite as planned, he put a wheel off in the grass and lost two more spots for 6th.
Being a very aggressive driver Jim Kato was committed to getting back on top.His first target was Mark Williamson in 5th for the Shangsai FRD Team.For a few laps, Kato was trying to pass him wherever he could, inside, outside, but Williamson had a great defensive strategy to keep him behind for a few more laps.Lap 7 Kato finally got around Williamson going into Turn 7.
Around Lap 6 a fairly bad accident occurred on the Main Straight right after the last corner.Henry Lee Jr seemed to enter a bit to fast and spun to a stop in the middle of the track.As he tried to move to a safer place, he instead got into an accident with Albert Yue of Ghiasports Racing Team.
Two laps later, the Red Flag was brought out since Henry Lee Jr and Albert Yue¡¯s cars were still stuck in the middle of the track, a very dangerous place.
With more than 75% of the race finished, the race was finished on Lap 8.Hanss Lin took another win while Namekata and Liu Yang joined Lin on the podium for 2nd and 3rd.The next three were Jim Kato, Mark Williamson and David Louie of Dyna Ten Motorsports.
While Hanss Lin has been dominating the AFR Challenge this year, the Shangsai FRD Team has been dominating the Team Championship.While most teams can only manage one car in the top six, the Shangsai FRD Team put two cars in the top six extending their lead in the championship.
The next race will be at the Beijing Goldenport circuit September 23 ¨C 25.FRD Motorsports, the Asian Motorsports Pioneer will be bringing the Asian Formula Renault Challenge to Beijing for the very first time.With only three more races in the championship, it seems that Hanss Lin has got it all locked up.The first Chinese A1 Grand Prix driver, Jiang Tengyi, was 2nd driving for the Shangsai FRD Team but now may drop further down as he missed this race for some A1 Grand Prix testing.With 2nd place still up for grabs along with wins and podiums, Beijing will surely not be a race to miss.
By Vinay Basavaraja
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