Kwan and Marsh sixth on the grid
Hong Kong driver Charles Kwan and Briton Matthew Marsh were sixth fastest in qualifying in the N-GT class in the China round of the FIA GT Championship in Zhuhai as Italian Matteo Bobbi and Swiss Gabriele Gardel topped the GT class yesterday in their BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello.
Second quickest was the AF Corse Maserati MC12 piloted by former Formula 1 driver Johnny Herbert and Italy's Fabrizio de Simone, who pipped teammates Andrea Bertolini and Mika Salo to the finish line.
Flying the SAR flag high was Kwan and Hong Kong-based driver Marsh, who had a good day's qualifying against world-class opposition at the Zhuhai International Circuit.
Fastest in the N-GT class was the GPC. Giesse Squadra Corse Ferrari 360 Modena driven by Christian Pescatori of France and Jaime Melo of Brazil.
Kwan and Marsh were driving the second Giesse Squadra Corse Ferrari 360 Modena. 'Our team is really professional and it's a very good car,' Kwan said. 'The lap times of both myself and Matthew were very consistent, which shows how good the car is. The fact is our car is older than the other GPC entry, so we're pretty pleased with sixth place.
'Our plan for the race is for Matthew to go out first for around 30 laps, then, depending on what happens, I will take the wheel before handing back over to my teammate again. The first priority is to finish the race, but we'll push hard to get the best position we can.'
In other races, Kelvin So, in a Honda DC2, who won the Zhuhai Touring Car Race, followed across the line by reigning Asian Touring Car Series champion Gary Sham, also in a DC2, and Fong Wai-peng in an EP91.
Victory in the first of two Super Car Challenge Races this weekend went to Li Siu-wa in his Mitsubishi EV8 MR, with Jonathan Hui at the wheel of a Subaru WRX STi and Philip Ma in a Ferrari 360 CS taking second and third.
The all-Hong Kong Mini Car race was won by Cheung Kwok-leung with Sun Joi-muk and Hong Chor-ping filling the minor placings. Veteran racer and winner of the Macau Grand Prix in 1964, Albert Poon, was disappointed after suffering brake failure, but will be back for today's second 10-lap race.
Tong Yat-lai won the final race of the day, the Hong Kong Automobile Association Lotus Challenge. Macau-based Frenchman Hugues Ripert was second, followed by Chen Wai-huen.
The racing continues today, with the headline FIA GT Championship round getting under way at 11.45am.
Hong Kong teenage sensation Ross Jamison experienced a mixed day on the first day of the Asian Open Karting Championships in Macau. The 14-year-old King George V School student failed to finish in his first race after a high-speed accident that left him sore, but he came back with a vengeance in the second race to finish in fifth place with the fastest lap time after starting at the back of the grid.
