After a dramatic turnaround in the final lap of the Galaxy Entertainment Macau Guia Race yesterday, the mainland’s Jason Zhang Zhiqiang won the race, which made him champion for two consecutive years.
Zhang’s victory also meant that the Shell Teamwork Lynk & Co Racing driver secured the TCR Asia drivers’ title.
His teammate, fellow mainlander Ma Qinghua launched well from pole position to head the field on the run to the Lisboa Bend – where Zhang was passed by Teamwork Lynk & Co 03 TCR’s Hong Kong driver Sunny Wong Yat-shing for second place. Zhang got back ahead of his teammate at the same spot a lap later, but that squabble allowed Ma to make an early escape from the pack behind.
The gap had been as big as 4.6 seconds at the end of Lap 2, but within one lap that had shrunk to next to nothing as Ma attempted to defend his lead. Though successful initially, the mainland Chinese driver relinquished first on Lap 5 when he was passed by Zhang at the Mandarin Oriental Bend and then by Wong on the run to the Lisboa Bend, with Ma doing just enough to hold off the Audi of Macau’s Filipe de Souza into the corner.
The order remained static until Lap 9 when Ma passed Wong around the outside at Lisboa Bend, then rapidly homed in on Zhang – passing his teammate on the run off the Melco hairpin to reclaim the lead.
Ma appeared to have victory in his clutches, having successfully defended from Zhang, but that was thrown into jeopardy as the race leader picked up a front-left puncture and slowed at the start of the lap.
Zhang had a chance to overtake Ma but Zhang told reporters on the sidelines of yesterday’s press conference that his crew told him that a number of cars had experienced punctures, therefore, he insisted, he tried to slow down to save the tyres.
After that Zhang held station behind the ailing Lynk & Co teammates as the team attempted to preserve its 1-2, but had no option but to pass Ma when the pair were caught at Police Bend by the Hyundai i30 N TCR of Hong Kong’s Lo Sze-ho.
Despite that scare Zhang had enough in hand through the final sector, clinching his first on-the-road Macau Guia Race triumph by 1.897s.
Zhang confessed that Macau has been a lucky place for him as his best lap was not as fast compared to his teammate Ma and his race pace was not better either. He underlined that he hoped that one day he could witness Ma standing on the highest spot on the podium for the Guia Race.
Last year Ma was unable to finish the Guia Race due to damage caused by a severe collision. He launched a protest against Briton Rob Huff of MG XPOWER for causing avoidable collision and succeeded.
Meanwhile, Macau driver de Souza, who was a threat for much of the race, had his hopes effectively ended when he received a drive-through penalty for a false start. Having failed to serve within three laps of it being awarded, however, he was shown a black flag. He then returned to the track after eventually taking the drive through, but did stop in the closing stages of the race after he was shown the black flag for a second time.
Additional reporting by MGPOC
Jason Zhang Zhiqiang talks to reporters on the sidelines of yesterday’s press conference after winning his second Macau Guia Cup.
Photo: Rui Pastorin
