Darryl O’Young not happy with last lap manoeuvre at Ningbo

Darryl O’Young was disappointed to miss out on victory in the China Touring Car Championship in the first race at Ningbo, after the Hong Kong driver had led most of the race in his BAIC Senova D50.

O’Young was battling to keep the Kia K3 of Leo Yi at bay during the closing stages, as the two drivers were caught by the field, led by the SAIC Volkswagen of guest driver André Couto.

Yi made a move down the inside at the penultimate corner, which put up on the outside for the final turn, where O’Young forced him wide and kept the lead across the line, with Yi opting to head straight down the inside at the final corner on the following and final lap, pushing O’Young wide and grabbing the win.

“It was very disappointing. It was a good race, I had a good start. The pace was really good,” said O’Young to TouringCarTimes.

“During the last couple of laps we struggled a bit with the tyres, but at that last turn I’m not convinced that Leo could have stopped the car without hitting me and basically forced me off the track.

“It’s a tough one, it’s obviously disappointing. One of our biggest targets this year is to win the combined points for the team, so this is good for them. We’ve had a tough streak this year in the CTCC, so it’s really disappointing as the win was in our grasp.”

Leo Yi says the move was on, and was the same tactic as O’Young had done to him on the lap prior.

“I knew the tyres wouldn’t last that long if he kept pushing like that, and during the last three laps I saw him start smoking, and going wide everywhere so I pushed even harder,” Yi said to TouringCarTimes.

“On the second to last lap I made a move, but he cut me back, so I did the same he did to me on the last lap.”

Ningbo was O’Young’s last scheduled appearance in the CTCC, as he’ll be replaced by BTCC driver Adam Morgan for the final three races due to his other commitments with Craft-Bamboo in GT racing.