On May 3, the first round of the 2019 China GT Ningbo Stop has kicked off. In this round, No.86 auto team under the XTREME fleet (KTM X-BOW GT4丨Ling Kang, Lu Sihao) won the runner-up in the GT4 category, and the same model of No.87 auto team (KTM X-BOW GT4丨Wei Tianyi, Liu Kai ) won the third place in the Am category. During the GTC battle in the afternoon, No.68 auto team (Radical RXC Turbo丨Liu Kai, Lu Sihao) and No.25 auto team (Radical RXC Turbo丨Song Bo, D. Ang) walked away the championship and the third place respectively, congratulations again.

GT4 Category Battle

KTM X-Bow GT4 Climaxes Brought Down the House

In the qualifying session yesterday, the car No.86 KTM X-BOW GT4 driven by Ling Kang immediately showed robust speed. After the onset of qualifying, Ling Kang took the lead to exit the stop, activated quickly, and shattered the lap speed in the final stage of qualifying (1: 49.531) to successfully secure the pole position grid of China GT Ningbo Stop GT4 Group (R3) Round. Later Lu Sihao also successfully achieved pole position in the second stage of qualifying.

At the start of race, Lu Sihao, the first driver of car No.86 (KTM X-BOW GT4) got away on the left side of pole position. As the formation lap ended, the green light came on, and all cars entered a large straight line side by side. Car No.86 starting in pole position performed very well in qualifying yesterday, and hence three hours before the race this morning, it was temporarily requested by the tournament to execute a 15-kilogram weight increase; in the meantime, other fleets’ BOP significantly reduced weight, which posted a huge challenge for the KTM race. At the starting stage, car No.86 was sandwiched back and quickly overtaken by two high-powered GT cars and fell to the fifth position.

Nevertheless, Lu Sihao responded calmly, quickly adapting to the racing state and chasing to third place in the field. The Ningbo circuit features many high-speed, thrilling, multi-curved sections and largely fluctuating high shoulders, and this is a big problem for the car suspension system, grip and tire pressure. According to the fleet strategy, Lu Sihao leveraged a steadily defensive line, and handed over the nice car to Ling Kang, a driver with a wealth of European racing experience.

As the pit area window was opened, after taking over car No.86, Ling Kang displayed outstanding speed, and approached the front car No.22 at an average pace of 3 seconds ahead of it per lap. With only 5 minutes left in the race, the No.51 BMW car crashed into the wall on the great straight line, the safety car was dispatched again, and Ling Kang lost the opportunity of scramble for championship. The car No.87 driven by Liu Kai kept refreshing its lap speed, successfully caught up to the seventh, secured it a podium seat in advance, and safely brought the car back at a stable lap speed.

At the end of race, the No.86 (KTM X-BOW GT4) driven by Ling Kang and Lu Sihao finally achieved the runner-up in the third round of the GT4 category, and the same model of car No.87 driven by Wei Tianyi and Liu Kai won the third place of Am category.

GTC组别争夺战

Radical RXC Turbo 稳定发挥摘得桂冠

Based on the results of yesterday’s qualifying, the No.25 auto team (Radical RXC Turbo丨Song Bo, D. Ang) started at pole position as the GTC group, and the same model of car No.68 (Radical RXC Turbo丨Liu Kai, Lu Sihao) also gained a wonderful starting position in the GTC group.

For the No.68 group, Liu Kai first came on the scene, and after the start, thanks to delicate control of the car, quickly occupied the second position in the GTC group, closely followed by Song Bo’s No.25 chasing to the fourth. Immediately, on the fifth lap, Liu Kai’s car No.68 pulled out the fastest single lap in the group (1:49.462), thus soaring to the top of category, and at this time, Song Bo also stood at the third of GTC category. According to the fleet strategy, car No.68 kept its rhythm by using a stable driving strategy, and reduced the load on racing tires while ensuring advancement of each lap speed. Before the pit area was opened, it distanced from car No.75 behind, holding the advantage of 14 seconds at hands.

After the pit stop substitution, car No.68 remained the first of GTC category, 18 minutes before the race, and car No.25 driven by the second stick driver D. Ang followed the front car by a strength of three seconds per lap, to successfully overtake the car No.88 of the higher GT3 category, by virtue of Radical RXC’s lightweight body and superb turning advantage. At this time, car No.68 secured the first position of GTC category, with a gap of nearly 30 seconds from the car 75 behind it, smoothly taking the championship! Car No.25 also successfully walked away the third place.

Finally comes the event preview, for the fourth round of the GT4 group tomorrow, we will start in pole position as well, and let’s look forward to the exciting race performance tomorrow!