China GT SH R11 Race Report
GT3 CLASS
Nick Yelloly took to the top step of the podium and wrapped up the 2019 GT3 Drivers’ Championship with one round to spare, bagging his first championship title as a BMW works driver. Him and teammate Lam Yu’s commanding performance today and throughout the season has also seen FIST-Team AAI taking the GT3 Teams’ Championship.
Winning Team’s Han Han and Joe Osborne took second in the #111 McLaren in a race that was thrice interrupted by safety car despite a 10-second time penalty for pitlane speed infringement. D2’ Peter Liao completed the podium – his second of the season.
The race came to a head when front row starters Jeffrey Lee (#88 Craft-Bamboo Racing) and Eric Zang (#63 Toro Racing) made contact at the T14 hairpin on the opening lap, resulting in retirement for the #63 and damage in #88. FIST’s #91 Joel Eriksson also has his race compromised from the incident and dropped down the field despite a rocketing start.
#92’s Kevin Chen assumed the lead to Han Han and Peter Liao after two safety car periods. The second safety car was deployed just before the pit window and saw pretty much all cars peeling into the pitlane for driver change.
Lee’s co-pilot Alessio Picariello and McLaren driver Joe Osborne soon vaulted gentleman drivers Peter Liao and Ivan Lee after the restart. They were followed by Nick Yelloly, who only needed four
