The 2017 China GT Championship leapt into life on 12th and 13th May at the Beijing Audi Goldenport Motor Park. Last year’s champion team JRM are once again putting forward the largest line-up of drivers. At the opening race weekend, the team had some surprising results in the second round of the GT3 class races!
This year, JRM JiaRui-TengDa have sent two pairs of seasoned drivers to take on the latest rounds of races, with one pair consisting of Li Chao and Chris van der Drift and the other of Li Jiaqi and Maxime Jousse. The drivers will all be at behind the wheel of a Porsche 911 GT3R. Furthermore, JRM also have 6 cars taking part in the GTC races.
In the first round of GT3 races, Li Chao and Chris van der Drift finished the qualifier with a time of 01:03.204, allowing them to start the actual race in third place. In the actual race, Li Jiaqi and Maxime Jousse grabbed the attention of spectators as they went head-to-head with their opponents. In the end, the pair finished sixth overall.
In the second round, it was JRM JiaRui-TengDa that came to the fore, with Am driver Li Chao using his initiative to overcome multiple challenges. His smooth hand-over to partner Chris van der Drift allowed van der Drift to blaze a trail through his opponents, with the pair miraculously taking second, despite starting the race in last place. The Am partnership of Li Jiaqi and Maxime Jousse also did well, finally earning them eighth place.
Since the end of the Beijing race weekend, JRM JiaRui-Tengda is ranked overall fourth in the GT3 class. Chris van der Drift is doing well in the GT3 Pro rankings, and currently sits in fourth, while Maxime Jousse sits in the number seven spot. Li Chao climbs to fifth place in the Am rankings, with Li Jiaqi following behind in eighth. During the interviews after the race it was mentioned how much better this year’s car is than last year’s, and how this has contributed to the drivers’ much quicker lap times. The contribution of fuel from R+ Racing was also acknowledged, as was the support from the organisational committee. The next race takes place in July – let’s hope that JRM have some more tricks up their sleeves!
