Sepang pre-race insights with team managers
(more photos available on China GT facebook and instagram @ChinaGTChampionship)
Junsan Chen, FIST-Team AAI
“We are one of the first teams to come here and start working. Most of our cars have been fully prepped and today we’ll start working on the third M6 GT3.
We joined China GT for the first time last year with a single M4 GT4, and we saw its improvement and how much work the organiser has put into it. That’s why we are stepping up the game and entering four cars this year. We hope this championship will grow further and meet international inscriptions.
It will be close but we will be fighting for victory as always.”
Chiu Hsin Lung, D2 Racing
“Things are looking good at the moment. We have made some small adjustment to the driver lineup - our pro driver Will Bamber will now be competing in both GT3 and GT4 classes, partnering with Kuo Kuo Hsin and Liao Yang respectively. Both cars have shown decent pace, so we are confident going into this weekend. ”
KINGS Racing
“KINGS is doubling up in GT3 and GT4 this weekend. As the reigning 2017 and 2018 GT3 champion, we are aiming for a hat trick of titles this year, as well as the first GT4 championship.”
Jason Hong, Team JRM
“This is the first time we are working with the 2019 spec Porsche 911 GT3R. While the EKS team has been servicing PCCA for 16 years, this is a new experience for us.
The new car has a big difference to the old one. We are still learning the car and engineers are still looking for the best set up. The old model is probably easier to prepare in comparison, and we will need a few more days to fully understand the new car.
Chris set the quickest times on the first two days of practice, but we think there’s still performance to be extracted. I think we should be able to finish in top five.”
Darryl O’Young, Director of Craft-Bamboo Racing
“We are excited to get the season campaign kicked off with our new Mercedes-AMG GT3’s. After a good start at Bathurst, we have received our team cars and prepared them well for this event. Being our first full race weekend with our own cars, the pure focus is on learning and driving as many miles as possible to gather data and information. Frank Yu returns to the GT3, and we have several new drivers to the team in Jazeman Jaafar, Alessio Picariello, and Jeffrey Lee, but all of them are quick and experienced drivers so we have confidence going into the weekend. I believe the China GT Championship has a strong future and as we are a Hong Kong team, it's great to support a Chinese championship and the inaugural Asia GT Festival.”
Zhang Dadian, Xtreme Motorsports
“We only got our cars on Thursday morning due to customs issues, so we are quite a bit behind on set up. This is also our first time racing in Sepang, so we are still familiarising ourselves with the track. Hopefully with an extra two days we won’t be too behind.
We don’t want to give our drivers too much pressure this time. We just want them to have fun out there and bring the car back safely.”
Feng Yilong, YC Racing
“We are doing okay so far. Cars are looking good and drivers are getting ready.
“We are entering into two classes in 2019, with Porsche 911 GT3 R’s, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup’s and Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo’s. Odds are in our favour!
We are still missing some of the equipment and parts but hopefully the next few days will be enough for us to turn things around. We hope to be in a position to fight for some decent points this weekend.”
Ma Zhipeng, Racing Team 69
“We are entering a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup and a brand new Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport into Sepang contention. We hope to finish in the points and get some decent results in the single-make class.”
Alan Chin, Arrows Racing
“Our pre-season prep is on the right track. Evan Chen has plenty of experience with the car and the Sepang circuit. So it will just be a few shakedown runs for him.
Kelvin has previous raced in GT and Miguel has a lot of TCR experience. We are here to enjoy the race and glad to support the Asia GT Festival.”
Ling Shaozhang, Phantom Pro Racing
“We have already completed a few test sessions before coming to Sepang, and have a lot of data to work with. During the official test, our main task will be setting up the car to the BoP requirement.
It’s looking good so far. We are comparing our data to what other teams have in previous years, and it’s really close.
We are looking forward to the season to start. There are a lot of different teams and marques. Competition will be fierce, and we will be aiming for the championship title. ”
Falco Lau, K2C Motorsports
“We are running our car based on the given BOP parameters. Things are going rather smoothly according to plan.
Our gentleman driver Kenny Chung has improved by leaps and bounds since last year. His lap times have gone down by seconds. The competition is fierce in GT4 class. We don’t want to make bold predictions; just want to do things at our own pace and hope we can get a podium finish.”
Eric Wong, TopGun GT
“We are very happy to be joining China GT for the third season this year. We have thoroughly discussed our plans for the year, and the name change (previously Team Lotus) is a tribute to the classic movie ‘Top Gun’.
We think China GT is a really good platform for gentlemen drivers, and we hope to enjoy the races the best we can. Coming to Sepang has been a big challenge for us, in terms of personnel and logistics. But we are ready now to fight and hope to have some fun this weekend.”
Wang Wenxuan, Asia Sonic Racing
“We haven’t had a good start to the official test as we have encountered some logistics issues. We are just trying to have much track time as possible in the next few days to make up for lost time on Tuesday.
Most of our drivers are gentlemen drivers so I hope we can finish in the points.”
