The Shanghai round of the 2016 SINOPEC LUBRICANTS China Touring Car Championship (19-19 June) proved to be tough from the outset for Teamwork Motorsport.
The team struggled to get a handle of the Citroen setup in practice but, come qualifying, things took a step in the right direction, only for high hopes to be dashed come raceday.
The long Shanghai International Circuit is demanding on the front tyres and therefore the best times came from the very first laps. The #12 Citroen of Sunny Wong led #13 Alex Hui for their hot laps and immediately set a very good lap time, which ultimately turned into Teamwork’s and his first CTCC pole position of the season.
Competition was intense with the top eight separated by just seven tenths of a second. Zhuhai winner Hui, meanwhile, had to settle for that eighth position.
Wong didn’t make the best getaway from pole position, dropping three places to run in fourth, but worst was to follow when a mechanical issue forced him to retire on the fifth lap. Hui made gains from the start, working his way up the order to take the chequered flag in fourth position.
Wong’s mechanical drama from the first race meant he had to start race two from the back of the field, but he made great progress through the field to run in seventh position, only for mechanical issues to end his race prematurely once again, just two turns from the finish.
Hui started from fifth position on the grid but was hit by a privateer Mercedes during the opening lap and fell to the back of the field. Despite damage to the Citroen, Hui was able to finish the race in seventh position and gain some valuable championship points.
“It was a difficult weekend for us,” said Wong. “We didn’t have the smoothest practice session and was unable to find an ideal setup, so I was pleasantly surprised with my pole position, which proved once again that we have the speed. However, a double DNF for me also showed that we have some fundamental reliability issues yet to be rectified. We have roughly three weeks from now until the next race in Korea so I hope Teamwork Motorsport can return with solutions.”
The next round of 2016 SINOPEC LUBRICANTS China Touring Car Championship takes place at Yeongam’s Korea International Circuit (10 July) and Teamwork Motorsport will return stronger, aiming once again for the podium.