China TCC: Changan Ford Zhuhai Sunday report

Fastest driver couldn't bring home the trophy, another CTCC lesson learnt for Martin Cao

CTCC Race 2, Changan Ford racing team with the "hard-to-ignore" compensation weight, put up a bravo show as Martin Cao & Andy Yan finished the race 1st & 5th, despite 2 teammates retired from the race at early stage. The complicated situation resulted in a dramatic race. The already- in-hands double win vanished with the arrival of a "overtake under yellow" penalty to Martin. The penalty arrived 5 hours after the race, taking away the victory from the team and left only the pictures of smiles right after the race to memorize all the ups and downs from the race week.

Although Martin sat pole, it was still not the time for the team to let loose of the nerve, as all the Focus drivers were about to challenge this fast track carrying a lot of weight, plus Martin had 3 very seasoned Honda drivers started right behind him.

At the start, 3 Honda blocked Rainey He's possibility to support his teammate Martin. Martin did a remarkable job defending his lead and had a small contact with Michael Ho. Michael Ho ran off and retired from the race. Martin, on the other hand, was also affected by the contact as he slowed down a little to check the vehicle. Lo Ka Chun grabbed the opportunity and moved to the lead. Changan Ford racing team suffered half- troop-down after 3 laps as Rainey He got sandwiched, his line was block, and failed to continue their performance. Rainey's line was blocked, leaving him way to the gravel only. Tengyi got rear-hit by Henry Lee and heavily hit the wall. Yellow flag was shown and safety car was sent to lead the fleet.

The mess situation didn't actually reduce Changan Ford's chance of scoring another double win, as Martin passed Lo at T7 (which was the action got penalized in the end) before Tengyi's accident. Martin rocketed the speed up at the restart of the race and left Lo at least 50 meters away in several laps' time and finished the race 1st. Martin, the 17 year-old, set the best lap of the day 1:50.602. Andy Yan, who started from 13th, finished the race 5th. In the end, Martin took 30 sec's penalty, dropping to 6th and his teammate Andy moved up to 4th.

The fastest driver missed the top spot of the podium was indeed a pity. If the penalty came at the early stage of the race instead of 5 hours later, the team would have realistic chance of scoring at least a spot on the podium. Another trophy was paid for Martin's CTCC lesson: rashness keeps you company with nothing but trouble!

-source: frd