The TCR China Series season finale took place at Guangdong 29-30 December 2017 and it proved to be another impressive weekend for Teamwork Motorsport with another victory and multiple podium positions to cap off a very strong campaign.
The first round of qualifying saw Sunny Wong record the third fastest time but unfortunately Alex Hui was unable to set a representative time. Better fortunes followed in the second qualifying session with the duo setting second and third fastest times respectively.
The format remained as before with three races over the meeting. The first race saw Wong make a good start to vault Terry Huang’s Audi to settle into second position in his GRANTT VW Golf TCR. Despite his best efforts he was unable to catch race winner Andy Yan in his Audi. Hui meanwhile drove through the field following his problems in qualifying, recording the fastest lap of the race and gaining the final podium position in the closing stages as he passed Huang.
The battle continued into the next day in cooler conditions. This time Wong lose out to Huang at the start as he dropped to third position. Huang went on to lead from Yan with Wong and Hui taking up third and fourth positions.
The leading quartet lapped at near identical pace until the penultimate lap when Huang’s car developed a small problem. Huang, Yan and Wong battled side-by-side through turn six, before Wong made the move stick into turn seven to run second. Hui took advantage of the battle ahead to slip by Yan as Wong also made a move and passed Huang for the lead on the last lap. For Hui, the race was not yet over as a final attached from Yan saw him lose the final podium position,
The 60-minute third and final race saw Wong start from the pole but a battle with Huang on the first lap saw both lock up their brakes and run wide before resuming in fourth and fifth positions. This gave Yan the lead from Teamwork Motorsport driver Hui. Wong quickly regained third position but mid-race contact with Huang saw him spin at turn seven and lose ground ahead of the mandatory pit stop window.
Out front, Hui remained in second position behind Yan with Huang third and Wong fifth. Wong was able to make further gains ahead of the chequered flag as he passed Huang in the final laps to take fourth overall, third in class.
Another feature the weekend was the Guangdong International Circuit 12H endurance race. Teamwork’s #41 Suncity VW Golf TCR piloted by Alex Hui, Alex Fung, Samuel Hsieh and Sunny Wong qualified second in a mixed field featuring an impressive 35 entries.
Wong took the first stint and immediately moved to the front of the field. However, a five-minute stop-penalty was given later due to a overtaking infringement after a safety-car restart.
Fung, Hui and Hsieh battled back to second position by the six-hour mark only for a fuel pump issue to cost the team further time. Back on track, the #41 pushed on to re-take third position only for a puncture to dash all hopes of a podium position with two hours remaining.
Teamwork Motorsport has now completed its 2017 racing journey with strong finish in TCR China. We now continue to develop our 2018 plans.