Alex Hui puts his first CTCC victory down to great strategy call

Teamwork Motorsport’s Alex Hui triumped in the first race at Zhuhai last week, driving from third on the grid into a comfortable lead after making what turned out to be the right call for slicks on a drying track.

The Hong Kong driver scored the team’s first win in the China Touring Car Championship Super Cup 2.0T class, beating stiff competition from the factory Volkswagen and Changan Ford teams, though he came under threat late in the race from Changan Ford FRD driver Dan Wells, who had made the same call.

“We were starting third on the grid, and I decided to go for slicks. I knew it was going to be tough at the beginning, but I knew if I could keep going the track would come to us, and by lap three the slicks were working,” said Hui to TouringCarTimes.

“I don’t know why anyone else thought wets were the way to go, for me it was clear slicks were the right decision,” he added.

“With four laps to go I could see a Ford close behind me. The team said it’s OK, he’s on wets, Then suddenly they said no, it’s Dan Wells, and he was on slicks too, so I had to keep pushing.”

Hui’s victory margin was just over half a second ahead of Wells, but Race 2 played against him as there was contact on lap four as the rain fell heavily on the track, and he’d finish down in tenth position in the reversed grid race.

The team are back in action this weekend, running a pair of Volkswagen Golf GTI TCRs in the TCR Asia Series for Bill O’Brien and Kevin Tse.