SEPANG, Malaysia, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Round 1 and 2 of the 2019 China GT championship saw plenty of action across three different categories of GT cars here this weekend.
Nick Yelloly and Junsan Chen took an early lead in the GT3 championship, while Evan Chen claimed top honors in the GTC category, and Rainey He and Sunny Wong led the way among the GT4 racers.
Round 1 in the GT3 class on Saturday will be best remembered for a titanic duel between the Fist Team AAI BMW M6 of Yelloly, and local hero Jazeman Jaafar in his Craft-Bamboo Mercedes AMG. After taking over from their respective teammates during the mandatory pit window, both drivers found themselves in a league of their own up front, with Yelloly just ahead of Jazeman.
The Malaysian driver was quicker in the corners but Yelloly's BMW had the edge on the straights, and the Briton had to draw on all his skill and experience to keep the faster Jazeman at bay. The local favourite eventually settled for second place after suffering a puncture towards the end of the final lap, allowing Yelloly and teammate Chen to take the win to mark a fairytale China GT debut.
Reigning China GT champion Xu Jia and his teammate Mitchell Gilbert came home in a distant third in their Kings Racing Mercedes AMG.
There was no such drama in the GTC category, which shared the grid with the GT3 runners. Evan Chen proved to be the class of the field in his Lamborghini Huracan, finishing an entire lap ahead of the Chinese duo of Zhang Dasheng and Zhou Bihuang in their Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, with the Arrows Racing pair of Miguel Kong and Kelvin Wong completing the top three.
The GT4 class witnessed another debut win, as Alex Fontana and Chris Chia took top honors after the Swiss driver had amassed a huge lead in the first portion of the race before handing over to his teammate, who was able to consolidate the gap to second and bring the Phantom Pro Racing Mercedes AMG home in first.
Rainey He and Sunny Wong finished second in their Mercedes AMG, just ahead of the K2C Ginetta driven by Sennan Fielding and Kenny Chung.
Sunday's round 2 produced another dramatic race in the GT3 category, with the Mercedes AMG of Alessio Picariello and Jeffrey Lee taking the win just 0.6 ahead of a charging Chris van der Drift, who had taken over from Li Chao and was catching Picariello hand over fist after a late safety car period had contrived to bunch the field together.
There had been drama right from the green light, when Jazeman Jaafar tagged Xu Jia just after the start, pitching the Chinese driver into the barriers and into retirement, leading to the first of three safety car periods during an incident-filled race.
Having taken the victory in round 1, the Fist Team BMW M6 of Yelloly and Chen had to settle for third place this time around.
It was as you were in the GTC class, as Evan Chen - who had qualified an impressive second on the grid ahead of many GT3 runners - took another dominant win to make it two from two in 2019 so far. As in round 1, second and third places were filled respectively by Zhang Dasheng and Zhou Bihuang, and Miguel Kong and Kelvin Wong.
In the GT4 category, Rainey He and Sunny Wong went one better than they had managed on Saturday to take the win in round 2. Wong took the lead with a textbook move up the inside of Liao Yang at the Turn 15 hairpin bend, with Liao and teammate Will Bamber ultimately finishing second ahead of a charging Alex Fontana, who took third place along with teammate Chris Chia.
Rounds 3 and 4 of the 2019 China GT championship take place in Ningbo from May 3 to 5.
