Alex Hui and Sunny Wong celebrate 2018 TCR China championship title

Alex Hui and Sunny Wong leave Guangdong as the 2018 TCR China championship’s drivers’ champions, thanks in part due to the absence of early leaders Henry Ho and Eurico de Jesus, after the Teamwork Motorsport pair scored a pair of victories at the seasons at the rescheduled finale.

Hong Kong duo Wong and Hui were deprived of a head-to-head fight with their Macanese rivals at the final round, when the MacPro Racing duo, which were competing with a latest specification Honda Civic TCR, pulled out of the final round citing a number of issues, most notably a customs issue bringing the car back into China from their base in Macau.

Wong and Hui, racing an upgraded Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR, secured both pole positions for Sundays’ two sprint races, and while just a top seven finish in a decimated field which only consisted of seven cars would have been enough for Wong to wrap up the title in Race 1, they had to wait until Race 2, after the team lost four laps due to a gearbox issue and failed to make the classification.

Hui went on to win Race 2, and while they running behind the Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR of Ma Qing Hua at the halfway mark of the one-hour endurance race, Wong was set to close down on the slower driver of Xia Yi Li, until Xia did the job for him and pitched the car into the gravel trap at Turn 1 on his first lap.

“I took off well today in Race 2 and didn’t have much pressure during the race. I just controlled the pace safely brought the car home. It was good to seal the championship with one race to spare,” said Alex Hui.

“I had a good start in Race 3 and held off Ma (Qing Hua) for quite a few laps, which was good racing. He got by in the end, but I knew we had a good chance to catch the Alfa Romeo back in the second half of the race and keep our enduro tally.

“It’s been a great year. We had some difficulties earlier in the season finding a good balance for our sprint races, because we only had one car to find set-ups, and work with the mixed compound tires that we have to use during a weekend.

“Over the year, we’ve learned a lot, especially after the Macau Grand Prix, we had much more understanding about the Volkswagen Group TCR. I’m glad we could put everything we’ve learned together in the finale.”

Hui’s co-driver Sunny Wong said: “Unfortunately, I had a gearbox problem in Race 1, so the championship job was put back in Alex’s hands, and he did it perfectly in Race 2. After that, we could both can enjoy the endurance race without any pressure.

“This weekend we were not only focusing on the finale, but also practicing a few different changes for the upcoming 24H Dubai race, which is in two weeks’ time.

“We’ve finished on a high in 2018, and are ready for more challenges right from the start of 2019.”