On October 3-4, the 2018 China GT Championship ushered in Wuhan Street Race. The calm street of Wuhan Sports Center instantly turned into a racing arena.
Wuhan Street Race
As far as the race is concerned, narrow and multi-curve are the labels of street race. This time, Wuhan street track is built by the lake, around Wuhan Sports Center, with the whole course of about 3 kilometers, the main track width of 12-15.5m, the longest straight line distance of only 587 meters, including 13 curves. Whether it is a hairpin curve at the end of high-speed straight lane, a high-speed small S-curve, or a long-distance high-speed circular curve, it presents unique competitive space for the drivers.
Considering non-permanent nature of competition facilities, the track is paved with new asphalt surface. First of all, as for racing tires, the grip is relatively weak, so that drivers need to seek for fast speed while ensuring stability.
68号车（Radical RXC Turbo）Liu Kai, a Driver of car No.68 (Radical RXC Turbo) said: The street track is narrow in vision, so the starting position is very special, it is necessary to find the safe position in each curve and pass smoothly. Due to the huge downforce during the Radical RXC Turbo driving, plus car friendliness to the tires, there are certain advantages for the long distance, and therefore, the best room for playing lies in the second half of race.
In addition, with limited perspective and many high-speed turns, drivers will release their nature facing double challenges of guts and technologies. Grasping narrow corners of street, judging the timing of overtaking, and controlling acceleration force, these play a critical role for drivers to win the race!
XTREME team will continue to compete in the 2018 China GT Race GTC and GT4 category, along with its cars No.86 (KTM X-BOW GT4), No.68 (Radical RXC Turbo) and the same model of No. 25.
In the morning of October 3, two qualifying sessions of the fifth station China GT were kicked off. In the GT4 category, Xtreme Motorsports team Tom Ashton/Lu Sihao took the lead with an average score of 1:26. 893, winning the top; the race of GTC category was particularly fierce, and Liu Kai, driver No.68, participated in the competition for the first time, after becoming familiar with the track conditions, he continuously refreshed his personal fastest lap, created a personal fastest lap of 1: 22.234, and secured the second starting position; afterwards, car No.25 Dominic Ang/Song Bo successfully completed the race.
This Wuhan Street Race adopted the GT3/GTC/CT4 category melee, the first round of finals was in full swing in the afternoon, and the overall starting position of Xtreme Motorsports team was ahead, followed by two GT3 cars of large horsepower.
In the entire street race, since braking point of the first turn is crucial to the exit sequence, drivers need to seize a safe position to pass the curve and enter the next set of curved or straight routes; after departure, car No.86 (KTM X- BOW GT4) entered the curve first, but due to huge dust in the track and weak adhesion of the newly paved asphalt pavement, as a result, the brakes locked up, causing multiple car collisions, and car No.86 (KTM X-BOW GT4) and Car No.25 (Radical RXC Turbo) had no choice but to retire.
Since then, car No.68 (Radical RXC Turbo) seized the opportunity and successively overtook two GT3 cars, rising to the second place in the field. Unfortunately, when No.68 was passing the excessively high shoulder, mechanical failure occurred and it was regrettable to retire. Fortunately, the accident did not cause driver injury.
The damaged cars successively drove off the track and arrived in Room P. Confronted with unprecedented dilemma, Xtreme Motorsports team made all-out efforts to restore the cars; due to different damages of each car, the repair team had a clear division of labor, overhauled the car body, implemented emergency deployment and air transport of the damaged parts, and strived to complete the car repair work, through a restless night of hectic repair; as a result, cars No.25 and No.68 were restored, and successfully passed the vehicle inspection. At the last moment, it resembles the Nirvana of Phoenix and test of gold in fire, Wuhan Street Race proceeded. However, Car No.86 was severely damaged and missed this race.
As the second round of Wuhan Street Race arrived on schedule, Liu Kai, car No.68 (Radical RXC Turbo) of rear departure, overtook the front car with excellent speed in the early stage of race, rising to the second place all the way, after exiting the stop, quickly drawing near the distance from No.22, and awaiting to try overtake, whereas the front car suppressed the rear car by the defensive tactics of center-line cornering, showing a wonderful, exciting but plausible offensive and defensive battle;
During the entangling process between two cars, the speed of car No.68 was restricted, and the team told driver Liu Kai in Team Radio to stabilize the speed and keep a distance from the car in front. Within the last ten minutes of race, the tire of No.22 was significantly worn, at this time, the single lap score of No.68 was faster than the front car, Team Radio ordered to Push the car and shorten the distance again to put pressure on the front car, but finally, due to the characteristics of track, such as too narrow track and inadequate road grip, it failed to overtake, and won the runner-up in the GTC category.
Song Bo, the first stick of No.25, said after the race: because of the limited exercise time of Wuhan circuit, as well as the changeable and vulnerable street track, a multitude of variables arose from the competition, but thanks to the timely repair of car, he successfully participated in the race.
With a pre-match strategy of stabilizing and seeking fast, after a stable overtake in the early stage, car No.25 entered the stop, whereas the second stick Dominic Ang continued to complete the overtake, and made the fastest lap 1:22.570 of the entire field at 35th lap, gaining the third place in the GTC category and successfully scored the points.
On October 19-21, China GT is about to usher in the final battle of the whole season, and Shanghai Circuit is waiting for you.
