Round 4 of the FRD LMP3 Chinese Endurance Series took place at the new V1 Auto World Circuit in Tianjin, just outside of Beijing on the 9-11 of November. This was the inaugural race for the new Tilke designed circuit, with the venue consisting of a mix of permanent and street circuit which proved demanding on both drivers and machine.
The weekend started with practice on Friday, with the circuit proving, as expected, to be very low in grip. The two practice sessions saw the PTRS cars of Andrew Waite-Ye Hongli and Nigel Moore-Josh Burdon prove themselves as the cars to beat, closely followed the S&D Motorsports pair of Tim Macrow-Tim Zimmermann and the Craft Bamboo pairing of Jake Parsons-James Winslow.
Qualifying 1 was a fascinating affair with circuit getting faster with every lap as more rubber was being laid down. This meant that the more laps you could do in the 10 minute session the better. The #95 Craft Bamboo of James Winslow put in a great lap after the flag to secure pole with the #17 PTRS of Andrew Waite second and the sister #25 PTRS of Nigel Moore in third. Tim Zimmermann in the #5 S&D Motorsports rounded out the top four.
Qualifying 2 was very much the same with the track evolution immense. The top 4 was almost identical except for the #25 PTRS of Josh Burdon taking the pole over Jake Parsons, Ye Hongli and Tim Macrow. The two Eurasia cars showed massive improvement in the Q2 with Garnett Patterson in fifth in the #3 and Martin Cao rounding out the top six in the #22.
Round 3 in Zhuhai proved eventful, with the main race on Sunday having to be delayed to round 4 due to the massive Typhoon that hit the area. This race was held on Saturday morning at V1 Auto World with the grid positions from Zhuhai qualifying making up the starting order.
This meant the #5 S&D Motorsports of Tim Macrow-Tim Zimmermann would start pole followed by the #25 and #17 from PTRS and the #95 Craft Bamboo.
The start saw a touch between Tim Macrow, Josh Burdon and Ye Hongli which resulted in the Josh Burdon car sustaining damage. Tim Macrow and Ye Hongli both ended up off circuit with Tim Macrow (#5 S&D Motorsports) rejoining in second behind the #95 Craft Bamboo of Jake Parsons with the #22 Eurasia of Martin Cao in the third. An early safety car for the stricken #23 S&D Motorsports of Ryan Liu bunched the field back up with Tim Macrow diving down the inside of Jake Parsons at turn one, resulting in both cars running wide and allowing Martin Cao through to the lead with Macrow and Parsons in second and third. This is how it stayed until the pitstop window opened with Macrow heading into the pits to hand over to Zimmermann with the rest of the field starting to head in during the next few laps. The order after the stops saw the #3 Eurasia of Henning Enqvist followed by the #5 S&D of Tim Zimmermann and the #95 Craft Bamboo of James Winslow. Tim Zimmermann took the lead and looked good for the win but a late safety car bought Winslow and a charging Andrew Waite back into play. The second last lap saw Tim Zimmermann leading Andrew Waite and James Winslow but as the #5 exited turn one in coughed with low fuel pressure allowing the #17 through for the win.
#17 PTRS Andrew Waite-Ye Hongli
- #5 S&D Tim Zimmermann-Tim Macrow
- #95 Craft Bamboo James Winslow-Jake Parsons
The opening race for Round 4 of the championship saw the #25 PTRS of Nigel Moore-Josh Burdon take a dominant victory from the #95 Craft Bamboo of James Winslow-Jake Parsons and the #17 of Andrew Waite-Ye Hongli.
The start saw a relatively clean turn one with Nigel Moore pulling of two moves to lead the pack after the first two laps, after starting third on the grid. With his head down the #25 PTRS pulled away from the pack with Andrew Waite and James Winslow battling it out for the other podium positions.
Further back was the #5 S&D Motorsports of Tim Zimmermann which was starting to sound worse as the race went on, still suffering from the fuel pressure issues that cost the team victory in the round 3 main race. He was followed by the #3 and #22 of Eurasia and the KCMG of Kevin O’Hara.
After the pitstops it was smooth sailing for Josh Burdon in the #25 PTRS who took the win from the #95 Craft Bamboo of Jake Parsons and the sister #17 PTRS of Ye Hongli.
- #25 PTRS Nigel Moore-Josh Burdon
- #95 Craft Bamboo James Winslow-Jake Parsons
- #17 PTRS Andrew Waite-Ye Hongli
The main race for the final round of the FRD LMP3 Chinese Endurance Series started with a bang with a risky move at the start for Tim Macrow in the #5 S&D Motorsports not coming off, resulting in contact with the #95 Craft Bamboo of Jake Parsons with Macrow spinning to the back of the field.
Up front it was the two PTRS cars leading the way with the #95 Craft Bamboo of Jake Parsons making a move on the #17 PTRS of Ye Hongli resulting in Hongli being shuffled back behind the two Eurasia cars of Garnett Patterson and Martin Cao. This move on the #17 PTRS had a massive bearing on the championship, due to the #17 needing to beat the #25 to win the overall drivers points. Further back the KCMG of Taylor Cockerton had a spin while fighting for position in the middle of the pack. In the lead was the #25 of Josh Burdon, and with a clear track proceeded to make the gap bigger lap by lap.
Late in the first stint a spin for Jake Parsons and the #1 FFS of Andy Yan allowed the #17 of Ye Hongli back up to third and the recovering Macrow up to fourth.
During the pitstop cycle a safety car was called which allowed the #25 PTRS of Nigel Moore to extend his lead and proved helpful to the Eurasia #22 of Constantin Scholl who found himself in second with the sister #3 Eurasia of Henning Enqvist in third.
With the win for Moore and second for Scholl almost assured, the battle for third was close fought with Enqvist holding on for third with Winslow in the #95 Craft Bamboo making a last lap lunge for fourth over Tim Zimmermann in the #5.
Main Race Results
- #25 PTRS Nigel Moore-Josh Burdon
- #22 Constantin School-Garnett Patterson
- #3 Hennig Enqvist-Martin Cao
The win gave Josh Burdon the overall driver championship with Moore missing one round with a prior commitment.
PTRS won the overall team championship from Craft Bamboo and S&D Motorsports.
