TOYOTA GAZOO Racing China Extends Victory, Wins Again at Lakeside

From August 31st to September 1st, 2024, the 2024 CEC China Endurance Championship completed the penultimate race of the season at Pingtan Ruyi Lake International City Circuit, and the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing China #21 team of HAN Lichao / WANG Hao won another victory at Ruyi Lake, winning the GT Cup GT4 Group, and extending the record of consecutive victories in this season.

Pingtan Ruyi Lake International City Circuit has a total length of 2.937 kilometers, with 14 curves, the most characteristic “Ruyi Curve” has a radius of 359.99 meters and a length of 842.08 meters, which is very characteristic and challenging. This is also the blessed place of GR SupraGT4, where the team has won the annual title of China Supercar Championship in the 2022 season. Returning to Pingtan, the team of Han Lichao/Wang Hao will do their best to bring back good results in the street endurance race.

During this race, Pingtan station continued to show hot weather. Surface temperature of 55 degrees, humidity of 80% of the environment, the drivers and cars are put to a severe test. Han Li Chao / Wang Hao team took the lead in Friday's qualifying and won the pole position with the fastest lap time of 1:21.174.

In Saturday's pre-final, Wang Hao took the lead and quickly took the lead in the class, but suffered a flat tire and lost valuable time, slipping down the rankings. Han Lichao took over and chased down his rivals, recovering a 33-second gap at the end of the stage to move back to the top of the class and eventually take the front-row starting position for the final race.

The 150-minute GT Cup final was held on Sunday. Han Li Chao/Wang Hao were challenged by their rivals in the opening stage. After a fierce battle, HAN Li Chao and WANG Hao stabilized the lead and opened the gap through nearly perfect stopping strategy, and successfully returned to the top of the GT4 class podium in a very dominant position.

After the battle in Pingtan, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing China will go south with CEC to meet the annual 4-hour race at Zhuhai International Circuit. Let's look forward to the team's success!

(Photo credit: Xie Qiming)