➢ International race director and Chairman of the Stewards secured
➢ Combined GT3 and GTC grid
➢ Improvements to be made to sporting regulations
➢ Newly appointed Vice-President of Motorsport at Goldenport Enterprises
➢ Greater engagement among promoter, senior officials and teams’
➢ Draft 2018 calendar to be released at Shanghai
➢ Download: CV’s of Kendy Chan and Dai (David) Xiaodong
The first half of this season’s China GT Championship has shaped up to be a thriller with the championship points battle across all three classes very closely matched setting up an exciting sprint to the finish in the remaining six races. The first three events have seen grids with over thirty cars and large crowd attendances adding to the spectacle and sense of occasion. This will step up a notch at the Shanghai International Circuit the scene of the Shanghai GT Festival as close to forty cars will do battle in races 7&8 on September 9&10. GT3 and GTC classes will take to the track together, whilst a steady increase in GT4 entries means that the class can undertake battle together in their own race. China GT will be joined by the Audi R8 LMS Series as well as again by the Audi Sport Festival on behalf of FAW-VW Audi.
Shanghai will also see a myriad of improvements come into effect starting with the appointment of Kendy Chan as Race Director, bringing with him 40 years of motor racing experience – as a driver who raced competitively in Europe, North America and Asia, and previously was race director for both the Ferrari Challenge Asia Pacific and Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia Pacific; an appointed Jury and Jury President for Moto GP, World Superbike Championship and the World Endurance Championship. Kendy’s experience and knowledge of the Chinese motorsport landscape coupled with his tri-lingual language skills (English, Cantonese, and Mandarin) make him an obvious choice to advance the standard of adjudication in China GT. Kendy will be supported by a trio of stewards including the well-renown Rikki Dy-Liacco in the capacity of Chairman of the Stewards.
In addition, Goldenport Enterprises, parent company of the China GT Championship, welcomed Dai (David) Xiaodong as vice president of Motorsport. David joins Goldenport after 12 years’ at the Chinese ASN - Federation of Automobile & Motorcycle Sports of People’s Republic of China (CAMF) – serving in the departments of external affairs, circuit racing, rally and cross-country rally and is fluent in Chinese and English. David’s remit is the daily management and operation of the portfolio of motorsports championships belonging to Goldenport, as well as working closely with CAMF on matters pertaining to the organization of China GT events.
Forming part of the above appointments is a series of improvements to be implemented for Shanghai, including the clarity of certain articles within the sporting regulations, a more illustrative and complete team managers and drivers’ briefing, enhanced tyre supervision and monitoring during on-track sessions, streamlined scheduling wherein the media conferences directly follow their respective session, and better engagement with Championship stakeholders to formulate a shared vision for the Championship.
Finally, China GT’s very own Balance of Performance (BOP) has provided results it set out to achieve by offering exciting racing. BOP will always be a delicate matter, but one that management attaches much importance on and strives to ensure parity prevails among all marques.
Official Practice kicks-off on Friday 8th and Qualifying and races will be streamed live in English on China GT’s Facebook page, and in Chinese across multiple media platforms including: LeSports, Tencent, Douyu, Sina, Netease etc.
