In the 2010 CTCC Race 3, Changan Ford Racing Team driver Martin Cao dominated the whole race with a pole position and a clear win, which brought the second victory to the team. This also laid a solid foundation for Ford to defend the championship title in 2010.
The Sunday morning started with a prolonged drizzle and the rain was enough to leave the track with ponds of puddle. ¡°This track is very bumpy and with not very good drainage system. There are some water puddles on the track, which makes it difficult for drivers to estimate the condition. After we've made some adjustments on car setup in the practice ealier this morning, I think our car now is good enough to handle this kind of track condition.¡± The good lap time while practicing made Andy Yan very confident on getting a good postion in the race.¡±If there aren't any collisions in the start, four of us should be all in the front.¡±
Race started on time with Martin Cao and Bill Zeng on the frist row. Martin Cao took a good start and was the first one going through the first corner. He kept his leading role without any challenges throughout the whole race. Rainey He, who positioned 5 th in the starting grid, was involved in the accident from the start and was forced to retire from the race in Lap 1, leaving the task of preventing cars from overtaking to Andy Yan, who started from 8 th . Andy Yan didn't let the team down, by Lap 3, he successfully overtook 3 cars and raised to Posistion 5, following Jiang Tengyi.
In Lap 7, Jiang Tengyi's windshield was fogged up due to the huge temperature difference between in and out of the car and his vision was completely blocked. He insisted on driving but finally left the race by missing the braking point in Turn 5. Andy Yan immediately took his 4 th position. Michael Ho, whom Martin Cao considered to be the strongest competitor, rushed from the end of the fleet to 5 th place within 7 laps. Andy Yan pushed his car to the limit to defend his positon. Howerver, he was overtaken by Michael Ho after a chase. With amazing overtaking, Michael Ho was very soon up to 2th place. With the assistance of his teammate, Martin Cao has already made enough room to keep Michael Ho away from his attack and be the first one to pass the checked flag. Andy Yan, finally finished 4 th , made great contribution in the team winner, which lead to the 6 points ahead of others in the overall score.
"This is my second pole in a row, and I turned it into the trophy at last. Thanks very much for the support from my team and Focus racing car, we will keep moving on and fight for the third trophy for Focus in CTCC." Martin Cao indicated, winning the Chengdu Race will increase the team's faith to continue its dominate place in the next CTCC race.
2010 CTCC Race 4 will be held on July 31 to August 1st, still in Chengdu International Circuit. Changan Ford Racing Team will go on showing our strong strength on adapting to different tracks and strive for the third victory in this season.
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