Photo: TCR China

André Couto dazzles as drama breaks out in Ningbo Race 2

André Couto took another lights-to-flag victory in the second race of the TCR China Touring Car Championship weekend at Ningbo International Speedpark, winning the race in his MacPro Honda Civic TCR but over half a minute, while the championship leader was involved in an incident on the final lap.

Couto led the way at the start while his team-mate Kang Jian Zhong made a perfect start from fourth on the grid and blasted through to second place ahead of Sunny Wong’s Teamwork Motorsport Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR.

Wong went wide at Turn 1 which handed third place to Leo Racing’s Li Lin, who was quickly handed another gift as Kang went wide at Turn 2, with Li straight up to second, and Wong soon following him past the Honda to take third.

Up front, Couto was running away from the field as everyone spaced out with little action until the final few laps, when Li’s Leo Racing Volkswagen fell back towards championship leader Wong’s Teamwork Volkswagen.

Wong followed closely looking for a way to pass the rival Volkswagen, whose Michelin tyres had clearly faded, but an attempt to pass around the outside at Turn 6 failed, as Li made contact with the left-rear of Wong’s Volkswagen, damaging the front of his car and propelling Wong’s car into the gravel.

This promoted Zhou Bi Huang’s CUS Team Volkswagen to third and the second MacPro Racing Honda Civic TCR of Kang to third.

Sunny Wong and Alex Hui continue to lead the championship, but Couto’s results already mean the Macanese driver is now joint second in the standings, 20 points behind Wong and his co-driver Alex Hui, with Couto’s car’s previous occupants, Eurico de Jesus and Henry Ho, heading into tomorrow’s endurance race at 15:38 local time (CST) – 09:38 CEST.