Zheng Zhen Dong wins Wuhan Race 2, Rob Huff takes championship lead

Zheng Zhen Dong won an incident-packed second race of the China Touring Car Championship at Wuhan for SAIC VW333 Racing, while team-mate Rob Huff went from 12th to second, and secured the lead of the championship with one race meeting left of the season.

There was trouble right at the start for championship leader going into this weekend David Zhu, with his Beijing Senova pushed straight into the wall at the street circuit, with his car left stranded throughout the entire race, with a yellow flag preventing any passing on the straight.

Zhang Da Sheng led from pole in the Changan FRD Team Ford Focus ahead of team-mate Andy Yan, but Juan Carlos Zhu was able to pass Yan for second in his Beijing Senova before the end of the first lap.

Yan then lost third to Zheng Zhen Dong on lap two, and was soon fighting off the two Volkswagens of Rodolfo Avila and Rob Huff, with Huff already up to sixth.

Avila tapped the rear of Yan’s Ford at the end of the second lap, which unsettled Avila’s Volkswagen and allowed Huff through, with Huff quickly passing Yan’s Ford on lap three and was now up to fourth.

A lap later and a brief technical issue saw the second-placed Senova of Zhu lose pace, with both Zheng and Huff moving past him to second and third positions.

The pivotal move of the race came on lap five, as the Volkswagens closed in on race leader Zhang. Zheng knocked the rear of Zhang’s Ford, spinning him around and took the lead, with Huff following him through into second, and Juan Carlos Zhu back up to third, while Zheng plummeted to the back of the field.

Zhu was soon passed by Rodolfo Avila’s Volkswagen, and the SAIC VW333 Racing team briefly looked set for a 1-2-3 finish, until Avila’s car slowed and stopped three laps later.

Zhu meanwhile was passed by championship leader Martin Cao, who’d been let past by Ford team-mate Andy Yan, but Zhu then hit the Ford at the inside of Turn 3 and eliminated Cao from the race, with Zhu dropping down the order as a result, later retiring with suspension damage.

Darryl O’Young in the last remaining Senova was the chief beneficiary of the action ahead as he too was working his way up the order after being taken out in yesterday’s race. The Hong Kong driver was now promoted to third, but was struggling to keep back Andy Yan’s Ford for fourth with a power steering issue, who in turn was holding off Jiang Tengyi’s Volkswagen, with Jiang recovering after starting last when his car failed to get away on the formation lap.

Zheng went on to win the race almost five seconds clear of Huff, who was 15 seconds further up the road from O’Young.

Huff has now taken the lead of the championship with one round to go, 6.5 points clear of Cao, with Zhu 1.5 behind in third, while Huff’s Volkswagen team-mates Jiang Tengyi, Zheng Zhen Dong and Rodolfo Avila are also in close contention, fourth, fifth and sixth in the standings.

The final round of the season takes place at Shanghai in two weeks’ time.