As the session started, Stuvik managed to stay on top of the list for many laps, looking very promising to take pole position. Zhicong Li was certainly in good shape for the weekend as he bettered his lap to 1:41.1 in 7 laps’ time, putting a lot of pressure on the Thai. Shanqi Zhang set 1:41.2 at his 6th try, moving to position 2. The lap times got better as the track got dryer. Most the AFR drivers got their best lap after lap 7. Zhiqiang Zhang set 1:40.683 right before the end of the session and Stuvik qualified 2nd with a 1:40.8 at his 8th try and Zhicong Li qualified 3rd. Kevin O’hara from Ireland, Suriya Bala from Singapore and Tin Sritrai from Thailand qualified 4th, 5th and 6th, respectively.

Round 1: Shanqi Zhang from pole to winner
Sunny/Dry/Slick tires

Round 1 started at 5:20 in the afternoon with Shanqi Zhang & Stuvik standing side by side on the front row, while Zhicong Li and Kevin O’hara on 2nd. During the warm-up lap, Zhicong Li spun at Turn 9 and ran into the gravel trap, unfortunately, unable to rejoin the competition.

As the race started, pole-sitter led the fleet into T1. Stuvik didn’t get off to a good start and followed Zhang into T1. O’hara stalled and lost his 2nd row advantage, completely. Suriya Bala took the opportunity and moved to 3rd, with Tin Sritrai following very closely behind. As the track condition wasn’t very good and there was another round to go the coming day, the drivers chose a rather conservative approach just to maintain their positions and leave more possibility for round 2.

In the end, Shanqi Zhang was the first one to finish the race, with Stuvik following closely behind. Suriya finished 3rd. Sunday CTCC will put the spotlight on AFR again in the morning at 10:45 and FRD will update you more by then.