China GT season kicks off, Uno Racing Team wins class championship in Shanghai on Saturday

On April 26, the annual opening match of the China GT China Supercar Championship officially kicked off at the Shanghai International Circuit. Uno Racing Team's two Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II cars showed strong competitiveness in the first round of the race on Saturday. The No. 85 "EVISU Cowboy" car supported by the well-known fashion brand EVISU staged a counterattack in the second half of the race. Pan Junlin and Wang Yibo won the GT3 Am category championship together!

The No. 98 car with a bright pink paint job moved forward resolutely in the GT3 Pro-Am category with many masters. Rio and Anson Chen finished the first round of the race in fifth place in the group.

During the practice session on Friday, Wang Yibo and Pan Junlin drove the No. 85 car together to complete more than 20 laps of practice. While getting familiar with the track conditions, they also provided a lot of reference data for the performance tuning of the car. Rio and Chen Yechong, who shared the No. 98 car, also achieved considerable track mileage in the practice session, making full preparations for the subsequent qualifying and race.

At 11:20 on Saturday, the qualifying race of China GT Shanghai Station officially started. The drivers of each team will participate in the 15-minute single-lap competition in Q1 and Q2. The Shanghai International Circuit was sunny on Saturday morning, and the air temperature was only 22 degrees Celsius, which will be conducive to the heat dissipation and tire management of the car, providing suitable conditions for each driver to sprint a single lap.

Uno Racing Team's two-car lineup quickly entered the qualifying competition after the Q1 start. Wang Yibo showed a very stable performance after driving the No. 85 "EVISU Cowboy" car, successfully completing the 15-minute qualifying journey. At the same time, he achieved a single lap time improvement of more than 2 seconds in the final sprint, and won the seventh starting position in the GT3 Am group. As for the No. 98 car, Rio, the main driver of Uno Racing, performed strongly, breaking the 2:01 mark in the first flying lap. Then Rio tried his best to improve his speed, and refreshed his personal best to 2:01.001, ranking among the top ten and also ranked seventh in the GT3 Pro-Am category. Unfortunately, both Q1 drivers failed to break their personal best of the weekend.

In Q2, Pan Junlin entered the cockpit of the No. 85 car to face the second qualifying competition. This Uno Racing's long-term partner driver made full use of the driving experience accumulated from participating in various sports car events in the 15-minute track time, and was the first to run a personal fastest lap of 2:01.735. Then Pan Junlin refreshed the result again in excellent condition, improving it to 2:01.239. Unfortunately, the result was cancelled because four wheels were out of the line under the limit. He could only win the second round with the second fastest lap of 2:01.641, ranking ninth in the whole field and third in the GT3 Am category. Chen Yechong, who participated in the national GT event for the first time, continued his stable performance in the practice stage, driving the No. 98 car to gradually improve the single lap results, and finally ranked 12th in the whole field and sixth in the GT3 Pro-Am category with 2:02.106, refreshing his personal fastest lap in the last race.

After a break in the afternoon, the first round of the China GT Shanghai Opening Race officially started at 16:45 in the afternoon. With the five red lights on the gantry going out, 26 cars drove at full speed to Turn 1, and the race officially started. Rio, who was responsible for driving the No. 98 car for the first stage, responded quickly at the start and continuously surpassed the car in front after the start, achieving a two-place improvement. As for the No. 85 car, Wang Yibo, the starting driver, played steadily and maintained the seventh place in the GT3 Am category.

Due to the collision of multiple cars in the rear camp, the race dispatched the safety car, and the gap between the cars on the field was compressed. After the race restarted, Rio maintained the eighth place in the field and the seventh place in the GT3 Pro-Am category with excellent driving rhythm. Wang Yibo also performed well. In the chaotic race rhythm, he had to do his best to maintain the race speed and follow the car in front, and also concentrate on protecting the car and avoiding accidents to ensure that it was handed over to the next teammate in an intact state.

Halfway through the race, the pit window opened. According to the team's pre-race strategy, Wang Yibo drove the No. 85 car back to the pit first, and Pan Junlin took over to drive the subsequent race. Rio chose to stay on the track to sprint further, aiming for a better track position. At the end of the pit window, the No. 98 car completed the pit stop, and Chen Yechong entered the cockpit to start his first stage.

Pan Junlin stepped on the track and the No. 85 car also achieved multiple ranking improvements, promoted to the top ten of the field and the second in the GT3 Am group. For the No. 98 car group, Chen Yeshong ranked fifth after leaving the station. Later, Chen Yeshong was fiercely attacked by many cars behind him, but Chen Yeshong still maintained a very good race speed.

Entering the final stage of the race, the safety car once again narrowed the gap between the teams, and also turned the race into a sprint race of less than 10 minutes. After the green flag was restored, Pan Junlin continued to chase forward with his excellent race speed, and at the same time took advantage of the fight in front of the car to complete many wonderful overtaking, and at the last moment he was promoted to the top of the Am group and continued his leading advantage until the end of the race. In the end, the No. 85 "EVISU Cowboy" car driven by Wang Yibo and Pan Junlin crossed the finish line as the first in the GT3 Am group. The two drivers successfully won the China GT annual opening group!

Car No. 98 encountered a tough challenge at the end of the race. Chen Yeshong was pushed by other cars in the process of competing for position and was forced to drive to the outside of the track. Although his ranking dropped, this fierce attack and defense also allowed Chen Yeshong to accumulate valuable multi-car fighting experience. In the end, the No. 98 car group Rio and Chen Yeshong won the fifth place in the GT3 Pro-Am category.

The first round of the China GT Shanghai Opening Race was successfully completed. Uno Racing Team successfully won the group victory and opened the season with the championship. The team will review the first round of the race tonight and actively prepare the car to provide guarantees for the four drivers to hit the top rankings in the second round on Sunday. Let us look forward to the team's wonderful performance tomorrow!

China GT China Supercar Championship

Shanghai Station (First Round) Schedule

April 27 (Sunday)

10:40-11:40 Second Round Race (55 minutes + 1 lap)