The 2017 season of the China GT Championship is already in full swing, with the Beijing weekend coming to a successful conclusion. KINGS Racing took the top spot in the first round and also managed to clinch second place in the second round. Their main driver, Xu Jia, snatched the first pole position of the 2017 China GT and catapulted the team to victory in both rounds.
KINGS have three cars participating in the GT3 class: Xu Jia at the wheel of the #7 Audi R8 LMS, Wang Liang and Han Huilin at the helm of the #8 Audi R8 LMS, and Xu Wei and Naoki Yokomizo in the #17 Ferrari 458 GT3. In the first round, Xu Jia made the most of his pole position to race ahead and put as much distance between himself and the cars behind him, staying at the head of the pack throughout the entire race. At one point, the safety car was deployed due to an accident, causing Xu Jia to temporarily lose his hard-earned lead, before recovering spectacularly once the race resumed. Xu Jia’s tyres were showing some signs of wear towards the end of the race. However, despite this, he managed to hold onto the lead and ultimately win the race. Xu Wei also took fourth place and became another crucial force in helping the team to win the championship. Wang Liang and Han Huilin finished ninth in the first round.
In the second round, reigning winner Xu Jia had to bear an additional 30 kg of success ballast, making his pit time 5 seconds longer and increasing the difficulty for him to win the race. However, despite starting in fifth, Xu Jia had an excellent start and managed to keep overtaking until he had a sufficient lead over his competitors, which eventually allowed him to snatch the lead and become the second winner in the GT3 class. Wang Liang and Han Huilin placed eleventh in the second round, while Xu Wei and Naoki Yokomizo ran into engine trouble in their Ferrari 458 GT3 in the last minutes of the race, leaving them floundering in twelfth.
Walking away with two driver wins, and one gold and one silver trophy for the team – this is just the start for KINGS Racing. Will their winning streak continue? Stay tuned to find out!
