Jackie Chan DC Racing had a trouble free race at the 4 Hours of Zhuhai, initial round of the 2017/2018 Asian Le Mans Series season, winning in dominant form despite initial pressure from the BBT squad.
The start had DC Racing working on the team play as the No. 8 Oreca while the No. 7 Oreca had No. 37 BBT Ligier at bay, which in fact lasted less than 10 minutes as Davide Rizzo looked eager to overtake.
The No. 8 DC Racing Oreca had it for almost the whole hour but a bodywork change in the first stop made them lose precious time to the No. 37 BBT Ligier. The BBT squad did everything right in their pit stop so the lead was with them from this point, but Harrison Newey was quick to react and retook the lead. The first hour had dominant runs in the LMP3 and GT classes as the No. 11 Taiwan Beer GH Ligier and the No. 90 AAI Mercedes saw no opposition during the time.
Some brilliant driving from Harrison Newey in the second hour granted a good gap ahead for the No. 8, which joined the list of dominant runs duringg the second hour, with the No. 11 Taiwan Beer GH Ligier still comanding in LMP3 while the No. 90 AAI Mercedes was still on top in GT.
To this point the gap to the No. 37 just increased, to a point where even the fast pace of Pipo Derani wasn’t able to recover it, and with Stéphane Richelmi keeping the No. 8 quick and safe, it was just a question of going to the checkered flag. In LMP3, the No. 11 Taiwan Beer GH Ligier saw its dominance go down as the No. 18 KCMG Ligier came for the battle, and not even a spin stopped the blue and white prototype from fighting for the lead and then take it in the final hour, commanding from the pit stop time to the finish, and in GT the No. 91 AAI BMW got a late overtake into the No. 90 AAI Mercedes and the team got its 1-2.
PHOTO: JOTA Sport
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