Xu Jia, Kings Racing: We have a new Mercedes AMG GT3 joining our fleet so we hope to turn that into an advantage in the GT3 Class. I raced on this circuit last year and unfortunately retired. It is one of the hardest races on the calendar because of all the corners, low grip and our limited experience. We have a decent lead in the teams’ championship but are slightly behind in the drivers’ championship. Therefore, we are going to try our best in the upcoming races to make up that difference.
Xu Wei, Kings Racing: I am driving the new Mercedes AMG GT3, but to be honest, all GT3 cars are quite similar in terms of driving experience. This is my first Chengdu stint so am trying to learn about this track and get a decent result.
Bao Jinlong, FAW T2M: I haven’t raced on this track for several years now. It is a tough track, with very little run-off so mistakes will be punished. Another challenge is the joint GT3 GTC grid on this relatively tight circuit. I have just returned from Malaysia and am in good form. We encountered some issues in Shanghai and Zhuhai but we are hopefully able to resolve these problems. We are currently leading in the championship but haven’t made it to the top step yet – so that’s our goal for Chengdu.
Morris Chen, FAW T2M: I have never raced in Chengdu before but I heard it is quite bumpy and could create issues for the car. We are in good form, and have recruited an advisor to oversee the implementation of race rules and to liaise with the organiser.
Li Chao, JRM: Both myself and my partner Chris are familiar with this track. I have only jstu returned from Malaysia so I need to rest up for tomorrow’s qualifying. We had a bad start of the season, and only found our footing from the third Event onwards. If we put our game faces on we have a good chance of winning the title at the end of the season.
Zhang Dasheng, JRM: GT3 Class is more competitive and I am looking forward to this race. I raced in this class last year, and level of competition has risen significantly over the past year. This year both Pro and Am rated drivers have very solid performance, so I need to perform to the best of my ability. I hope to be able to coach my partner, Li Jiaqi, well. I am also Chinese-speaking so I hope it will be easier to help him improve.
Bian Hao, JRM: This is a very bumpy track from my experience last year. You might suffer some slight damage on your floor. The weather here is also unpredictable, adding to the difficulty of setting up the car. I think this is one of the most challenging tracks on the calendar. We are doing well with prep and me and my co-driver are in good form. We will try our best to make up the lost points this weekend.
Huang Hsi Chan, D2 Racing: This is my first experience with Chengdu so we have arrived ahead of time to learn the track. It has an interesting layout, but the elevation change, low grip and bumpy surface will present some significant challenges. I am not familiar with the Zhejiang circuit either, so we are going to stay humble and learn as much as we can. We are leading in the GT3 standings but it’s not over till we win the final championship!
Kenny Chung, K2C Motorsports: We originally planned to make our debut at China GT in shanghai, but we were not quite ready hence here we are in Chengdu. The Chinse audience might not know the British manufacturer Ginetta very well, but it is a very competitive marque in Europe. We chose it because it is born to be a race car, and was not built based on road cars. This is China GT’s maiden year with GT4, so we want to show our support and collect data for 2018.
Chen Yinian, Xtreme Motorsports: I have been to this track before but never raced here myself. I hope my KTM X-Bow can perform well despite of the bumpy track. We have several race meetings during the national holiday period so we wish everyone all the best.
Feng Chong, The Winning Team: Our car had a incident at the last event: the engine oil leaked on the exhaust and caused a fire. We spent 20 odd days trying to fix the car and we are still missing some parts. However, as we currently stand in the championship, we will only need one more victory to claim the title, so we are pretty relaxed about it.
Julio Acosta, Team Lotus: I have been here before and remember this being a fun track. We ran into some issues last time in Shanghai so we came here early to get the right set up. We hope that all of our cars will finish the race and get good results. Podium is our goal.
Rodolfo Avila, ZIA FEA Racing: This track is very challenging in wet conditions, but as we cannot control the weather we can only try and do our best under any circumstances. We made some improvement with the car since the last Event. We hope to get on the podium this weekend with stronger cars in our garage.
Ross Gunn, ChinaEquity AMR: This is only my second experience with China and my first with Chengdu. I hope to learn a bit more about the track and try to find the right setup for the car. We hope to get on the podium and perhaps even the top step.
Zhou Yong, ChinaEquity AMR: I heard there are plenty of puddles on this track after the rain. I’ve known my partner Dewey Lin in during rally days, but have not worked with him before so am looking forward to that. This is only second GT experience. I went conservative last time but I am going to try a more aggressive set up. Goal for the weekend? I will tell you after I’ve tested on this track.
