Rookie Sun Takes NISSAN Tiida to 4th-place Finish
- China Touring Car Championship Round 5 Race Report -
September 24th, Ordos Circuit
The recently-completed Ordos International Circuit, located in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, featured Round 5 of the China Touring Car Championship (CTCC) as its opening event. Starting in sixth place on the grid after the qualifying session, Dongfeng Nissan Ghia Sports Team's rookie Sun Zheng took fourth place in the final race competing in the 1600cc class in a Nissan Tiida.
In races on new circuits where there is no available data, it's important to quickly pinpoint the right setup for the cars, and being able to do so is a sign of the overall ability of a team. The DongFeng Nissan Ghia Sports Team was refining its setup while avoiding mud-left over from the construction of the recently completed circuit. In qualifying, the team's particularly outstanding rookie Sun Zheng drove the #3 Tiida, repeatedly improving his times at a good pace to achieve sixth place in the official qualifying round.
The final race was a battle right from the beginning. The two HAIMA 3s collided on the opening lap, getting into a tangle in the middle of the track. Their rivals Guo Haisheng in the #1 Tiida and Lin Lifeng in the #2 Tiida, who were close behind, nicely negotiated the accident with the #1 car finishing the first lap in 9th place and the #2 machine in 10th. In the meantime, the #3 car ended the first lap in 7th place. The race then settled down for a while, but lap 10 saw a collision in the second group, causing two cars to drop out. This resulted in #3 moving up to 5th place. He continued to advance up the pack and overtook the #11 POLO on the following tour to move into fourth place. The #1 and #2 Tiidas also moved up to 7th and 8th respectively. Sun's place didn't change after that, and the #3 Tiida's 4th place finish was confirmed when he took the chequered flag on the 16th lap. The other two Tiidas defended their places against the following POLO and HAIMA, with the #1 car finishing in 7th and the sister #2 machine taking 8th. Round 7 of the series is scheduled to take place on October 10th on a street circuit in Beijing.
China Touring Car Championship (CTCC)
The CTCC is a series of touring car races held in China in which the Nissan Tiida competes. The DongFeng Nissan Ghia Sports Team receives technical support from NISSAN/NISMO. In 2006 and 2008, the DongFeng Nissan Ghia Sports Team took the series' title. This season's championship has races scheduled for Shanghai Tienma, Shanghai F1, Beijing, Zhuhai, Canton, Chengdu, and Inner Mongolia, plus one additional new circuit, for a total of eight races.
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