It was a strong weekend for Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport at the joint FIA TCR World Tour and TCR China event at Zhuzhou, with ZHANG Zhi Qiang and David ZHU both winning on their FIA touring car debuts, and with Aaron KWOK scoring an impressive podium after a masterful drive in the TCR China Challenge race.
It was the first of two race weekends where the TCR China Championship will race with the global top tier of touring car racing, the FIA TCR World Tour, and the Chinese drivers raced competitively, with ZHANG and ZHU mixing it with the world stars on their way to a fantastic pair of results at Zhuzhou.
Qualifying
ZHU and ZHANG both made it into the top 12 in the Q1 qualifying session, making sure they went through to fight for pole position in either the first or reversed grid races, while Sunny WONG sadly missed out as he worked hard to adapt to the World Tour's regulation Kumho tyres, which are much different to the Michelin tyres used in TCR China.
Race 9
The race started slightly wet and became wetter as it continued. ZHU and ZHANG both lost ground in a busy start, but were soon making up ground, with ZHANG overtaking four of the TCR World Tour drivers on his way to claiming tenth place overall. His final overtake was an incredible pass on friend of the team, and soon to be Sunday's winner MA Qing Hua, passing MA around the outside of Turn 10.
ZHU completed the podium in the TCR China category, after the stewards penalised one of the Hyundais that had pushed him aside, while WONG finished seventh in class in his 03 TCR.
Race 10
ZHANG couldn't get away off the line and dropped to last and 28th position, leaving ZHU on point for the team, but he was caught up in a first corner melee and fell behind one of the Hyundais, before they manouvered their team-mate in front of him.
ZHU had much more pace however, and he was able to retake the positions from both Hyundais before the end of the race and claim the class victory, and a brilliant 12th overall, fighting with a group of cars which was led by TCR World Tour points leader Norbert MICHELISZ.
ZHANG powered back through the field to claim sixth in class, with WONG giving up his position to help his team-mate and crucially keep him ahead in the standings.
It was a fantastic race in which Teamwork Motorsport alumni MA Qing Hua claimed a thrilling victory on the final lap, winning his first race at home in the FIA series.
Standings
ZHANG Zhi Qiang continues to lead the drivers' championship, now on 346 points, just one point ahead of his main rival going to the season finale at Macau next month.
Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport have a strong 137-point lead in the teams' championship, while the Lynk & Co 03 TCR leads the models' championship by 110 points.
Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport have also launched themselves into the top ten of the FIA TCR World Tour teams' standings after only one weekend, the best-placed of the TCR China teams in the classification.
TCR China Challenge - Aaron KWOK
In the TCR China Challenge support race, Aaron KWOK was a star this weekend, progressing straight through to Q2 and qualifing eighth overall, setting himself up for a third-place start in Race 12.
In Race 11, KWOK drove through the field, despite picking up damage in an incident at Turn 3 on lap seven. From then on, KWOK put on an inspired drive, passing team-mate Paul POON for fourth on the straight with three laps to go, before fianlly passing one of the Audis on the penultimate lap to move up to third behind team-mate Richard LI and claim his first podium in TCR China.
In the Race 12 finale, KWOK started third, and then the drivers ahead collided into Turn 1 and he masterfully avoided them to take the lead of the race, to the excitement of the local crowd. KWOK didn't have the ultimate pace however, and dropped a few positions, before magnanimously handing his fifth place to team-mate Richard LI with two laps to go, which made sure LI was able to win the drivers' title by just one point.
Next up
The next event for Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport is the Macau Guia Race on November 14-17, where ZHANG Zhi QIang is a three-time winner around the famous circuit, and with the team's goal to win all three titles.
The team expands back to four cars for the finale, with Juan Carlos ZHU rejoining David ZHU, Sunny WONG, and ZHANG Zhi Qiang.