Asia Racing Team and Peter Li Zhi Cong left Twin Ring Motegi with a smile on their faces after a fabulous weekend in the 2013 GT Asia Series opening round. The 20 year old picked up a win and a second place to head towards the second meeting of the season, Okayama, in first place in the standings.
Saturdays Qualifying saw the Guangzhou native qualifying on the front row for both races. Li Zhi Cong was only bettered by Aston Martin Racing factory driver Stefan Muecke (Aston Martin) in Qualifying 1, and by GT Asia Series champion Mok Weng Sun (McLaren) in Qualifying 2.
The start of Race 1 happened under treacherous conditions on Saturday afternoon. Throughout the race, the shower was constant, sending sprays throughout the track making visibility low and causing most of the grid to be cautious in the first few laps to avoid incidents. Li kept his position and managed to follow Muecke until the compulsory pit-stop.
As the pit-stop window opened, Li had to serve a drive-through penalty for having outside assistance when his Porsche 911 GT3 R clutch decided not to cooperate. But the young Chinese did not give up. Driving on his limits he took less than 15 minutes to overtake the three cars in front of him, and proceed to pull away from the field to bag his first win of the season
Speaking about Race 1, Li said after taking the drive through, I dropped to fourth but I had a good pace and managed to catch up and slowly took the Audi and then the Lamborghini and the Mclaren for first. It was a really good race and I really would like to thank my team that gave me a competitive car and my family for this.
Starting from P2 for the Race 2, Li had a clean race start, and quickly moved up to first position. The Yumin Restaurant and Pakelo Lubricants sponsored driver would stay there until the compulsory pit-stop but an extra 10-second compensation time for winning Saturdays race sent him out of the pit lane just behind Hisao Shigeta.
Li was unable to find a way past Shigeta and finally got overtaken by Muecke. Li would benefit from Shigetas mistake with four laps to go to earn the second place. The Guangdong Province born Li claimed that Motegi was a good day at the office however and that perhaps his rivals should fear him even more for the rest of the season.
Peter said: We wanted to have a good weekend to start the season and we certainly did by clinching a victory and a second place. This was my first time in this track and we were not expecting so much. I feel that I learnt a lot last year. I am more confident now and I know that I can trust my team to give me a fast car. I am looking forward to the next races.
Team Manager Philippe Descombes added Im so pleased for Peter and the whole team who have put in a great effort this weekend. Peter drove a flawless race despite a lot of pressure from his opponents. He has really impressed us not only with his pace in qualifying but also with the way he handled himself in both races. We showed this weekend that we are still very be competitive and we just have to focus on doing our job.The next races of the GT Asia Series will be held in six weeks time, from 28th to 30th June, at Okayama.
