On 12th and 13th May, the opening races of the China GT Championship took place at the Beijing Audi Goldenport Motor Park. Spirit Z racing once again showcased their strength in the GT3 class.
The Spirit Z racing team left a deep impression on fans after the 2016 season of China GT. For the 2017 season, Spirit Z Racing has expanded their reach into the GT3 class, and has appointed two Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3s to take down the competition. Key driver Sun Zheng will share the #87 car with Wang Risheng of Hong Kong, while renowned Macanese driver André Couto takes to the #23 car with Singaporean Yuey Tan.
In the first round of the Beijing weekend, André Couto was the centre of attention in car #23. After starting in tenth place, he launched an unstoppable attack, racing through the ranks until he was in third place. Wang Risheng also continued to steadily overtake his opponents from behind the wheel of #87.
After the opening of the pit entrance, car #23 completed the perfect pit stop before racing straight back into battle out onto the tracks. In the end, André Couto and Yuey Tan finished in tenth netting them one point. Unfortunately, Sun Zheng and Wang Risheng suffered from a malfunction with their breaking system in the dying moments of the race, and had to withdraw.
André Couto started the second round race in ninth in car #23, but quickly fought his way towards the front of the pack by claiming second place. At the same time, Wang Risheng was also hot on the heels of his opponents in car #87. At the end of the second lap, the two cars were in fourth and ninth respectively. Soon after, #23 once again leapt up the field to take back second.
Just over halfway through the race, after swapping drivers, both cars suffered from slight malfunctions which affected their lap times. In the end, #87 and #23 finished the race in ninth and tenth respectively.
Whenever the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3s of Spirit Z Racing take to the tracks in the China GT GT3 class, they always steal the limelight. Leader of the Spirit Z Racing team, Sun Zheng, expressed that the team hopes to be able to take on vendor-level service providers with the help of their partners Nismo. Although Spirit Z Racing have already expanded into the GT3 class this year, they are already planning an expansion into the GTC and GT4 classes with Nismo. This team continues to be full of surprises!
André Couto wows the crowd with his exceptional performance in the 2017 opener, and we are yet to see usually strong combination of Sun Zheng and Wang Risheng deliver their best performances. After getting off to a bumpy start, Spirit Z Racing is shaping up to be in good form for the next race. The best is yet to come!
