Photo:

Alex Fontana wins the season finale at Shanghai, Kia take title

By

Alex Fontana has won the final round of the 2018 China Touring Car Championship at Shanghai, with his Dongfeng Kia Racing team securing the coveted manufacturers’ title.

Fontana launched between the front row sitters, Rodolfo Avila’s Volkswagen and his Kia team-mate Leo Yi at the start, with Pepe Oriola following him through in the Changan Ford Focus to second place.

Martin Cao also had a great start in the #16 Ford and was up to third, while newly-crowned champion Leo Yi dropped down the order.

At the end of lap one, David Zhu in the BAIC Senova pushed his way past Cao’s Ford for third, with Cao losing three positions.

Zhu then caught and passed Oriola’s Ford on lap four, as Fontana kept pulling away up front in the K3 2.0T.

The SAIC Volkswagens had better pace however, and Zhang Zhen Dong worked his way forward, passing Zhu on lap eight, while Ma Qing Hua, let by team-mate Rodolfo Avila, managed to pass Zhu on the penultimate lap and place two of 333 Racing’s Volkswagens on the podium.

Zhu finished fourth, ahead of Avila’s Volkswagen.

Rob Huff carved his way up from last to sixth, but with Fontana winning the race, it wasn’t enough to stop the Dongfeng Kia team winning the manufacturers’ title for the first time in the 2.0T class, previously having won while the CTCC Super Cup was split in 2015 and ’16.

Juan Carlos Zhu was seventh ahead of BAIC Senova team-mate Adam Morgan, who recovered from an earlier spin to make it back into the top ten.

Martin Cao finished as the best of the Fords in ninth, with new champion Leo Yi completing the top ten in the final round of the season.