Teamwork Motorsports efforts in the second round of the China Touring Car Championship (CTCC) at the Zhuhai International Circuit (ZIC) today (11th May), where they fielded two Citroen C Elysee CTCC cars for the first time, ultimately cam undone at the hands of the weather.
Throughout practice and qualifying the rain had been falling, but the team’s new cars had shown well in the hands of their two drivers, Sunny Wong and the debutant Alex Hui.
Free practice was particularly promising as both cars ran faultlessly with Wong posting competitive times good enough for third overall and Hui getting to grips with his new Citroen for the first time, but still managing a respectable P6.
The rain continued to fall and qualifying commenced in extremely tricky conditions, which was to prove the undoing of Wong’s best efforts, when on his first flying lap spun off into the gravel trap ending his session and resulting in him having to start Sunday’s race from the back of the grid.
Alex Hui, embarking on his first CTCC qualifying session of the season, did not fair much better as an intermittent misfire prevented him extracting the best from the car, but managed a respectable seventh place start on his CTCC debut.
The hope of the teams and fans for a let up in the rain for Sunday’s race was short lived, as again persistent rain fell on the ZIC in Guandong Province, Eastern China – close to the border with the legendary racing venue of Macau.
As the start of the race drew near what the organiser’s deemed too dangerous for a race start, opted to commence proceedings under the safety car, preventing any overtaking opportunities for the Citroen pairing. At the end of lap three, conditions had not improved but the lights on the safety car went out nonetheless and the cars were released into a cloud of heavy spray.
Almost instantaneously the skies above burst into a torrential downpour, flooding the track and making driving impossible and resulting in an inevitable red flag.
After a period on the dummy grid and with the circuit remaining under water, the ZIC and CTCC organisers were left with no choice but to abandon the race and the meeting, but not until Hui and the Teamwork team had collected their first CTCC trophy for being first home in the CTCC Championship for Independent teams.
Hui, pleased to have got his C Elysee to the grid and to have his hands on his first CTCC trophy: “It was a shame for my teammate (Wong) and myself to not get to have a proper race, our cars showed great speed and I can’t wait for the next round where it will hopefully have good conditions where we can demonstrate the potential we have in this car and team.”
The next round of the CTCC takes place in two weeks’ time at the Shanghai, home of the Chinese Formula 1 Grand Prix, on May 25th 2014.