TCR World Tour Zhuzhou Station 326 Racing Team's two cars show Chinese speed

From October 17 to 20, the 2024 CTCC China Automobile Circuit Professional League ushered in the fifth race of the season. The drivers of this championship will compete with the drivers of the TCR World Tour and compete with the players of the world's top TCR events on the track. 326 Racing Team will be driven by Wu Yifan and Lai Jingwen in the No. 51 and No. 52 cars respectively. Xiao Kunpeng and Zhao Di missed the last two races of the season due to the level of the license.

According to the rules of the event, the races that will be held together with the TCR World Tour will use completely different Kumho tires on the weekend. For domestic drivers, it is necessary to find the characteristics of the new formula racing tires in a short period of time and change the driving method for racing tires.

Before the race, there were two pre-race test sessions. In the first test session, the sky was not good and there was precipitation. The team used rain tires to drive on the Zhuzhou track. Lai Jingwen found a clean space on the track and made a score of 1:58.051, ranking 12th in the whole field and 4th in TCR China. Wu Yifan focused on the long-distance test and finished 20th overall and 11th in TCR China with the fastest time of 1:59.351.


In the second test, the weather cleared up and the track conditions improved. The team used dry tires to participate in the test drive to find the settings of the vehicle in different weather environments. The No. 51 car ranked 21st in the whole field with a score of 1:47.896 and 9th in TCR China; Lai Jingwen ranked 22nd in the whole field and 10th in TCR China with a slight difference of 1:48.045.

On Friday, we came to the free practice session. Brand-new Kumho tires were provided to each team. The 326 Racing Team adjusted the vehicle settings based on Thursday's data. In the two free practice sessions, Wu Yifan ranked 13th in the whole field with a score of 1:46.510 and 4th in TCR China; Lai Jingwen ranked 24th in the whole field and 12th in TCR China with a score of 1:47.985. The second practice session encountered precipitation again. The two drivers focused on protecting the car and ran long distances to cope with various conditions in the race.

Qualifying was held on Saturday morning. A total of 28 cars made the traffic conditions on the track complicated. 326 Racing The team found the right time to release the car, and Wu Yifan successfully achieved a time of 1:46.383, ranking 17th in the whole field, 4th in TCR China, and 2nd in the club category. Lai Jingwen also achieved a time of 1:47.072. Although he ranked lower, he ranked 12th in TCR China and 6th in the club category.

The first round of the race will be held on Saturday afternoon, and the team will choose a dry car setting to participate in the race. As the cars drove onto the starting grid, it began to rain over the track, but the race still did not show the rain sign, and all cars were equipped with dry tires. As the race progressed, the raindrops became more and more dense, but in order to avoid violating the rules of the race, the team chose to stay on the track and insist on completing the race, and the dynamics of the vehicles almost disappeared.

Wu Yifan successfully climbed onto the podium with the 19th place in the whole field, the 8th place in TCR China, and the runner-up in the club category. Lai Jingwen encountered a collision accident at the beginning of the game and had to withdraw from the first round.

The second race of the weekend was held on Sunday. 326 Racing Team hoped to improve its ranking after regaining its momentum. The dry conditions also made the competition particularly fierce. Wu Yifan avoided many accidents on the track and improved several places to finish the second round in 15th place, 4th place in TCR China and champion of the club category! Lai Jingwen also performed well, finishing 22nd place, 11th place in TCR China and 5th place in the club category.


Thus, 326 Racing Team has completed the Zhuzhou race of the TCR World Tour/CTCC China Automobile Circuit Professional League. Currently, 326 Racing Team ranks second in the club category annual team standings with 517 points. The final battle of the year will be held in Macau in November, and the TCR World Tour will compete at the Guia Circuit again. Please stay tuned!