Cheng Congfu and AM partner Chris Chia took their Absolute Racing-run FAW Audi Racing Team R8 LMS GT3 evo II to an emphatic overall victory in round three of the China Endurance Championship (CEC) after 82 laps of the 4.010km Ningbo International Speedpark, crossing the line with a margin of more than 14 seconds.
After their overall win in round three, FAW Audi Racing Team’s Cheng Congfu and Chris Chia have extended their lead in the driver standings to 15 points ahead of their closest rival with one race to go.
Starting from P2 in the FAW Audi Racing Team R8 LMS GT3 evo II, Chris Chia made a lightning start, quickly pulling alongside the pole-sitter before rocketing into the race lead.
A first safety car was called out to recover a car. A second safety car intervention just before the 40 minute mark triggered another round of pit stops. Chia remained at the wheel, emerging in third place for the restart. As the field was released, Chia was quickly up to second and rapidly closed in on the race leader, outpacing his rival by some margin.
With 70 minutes remaining on the clock, Chia regained the race lead and, once past his rival, was able to unleash the true pace of the FAW Audi Racing Team GT3, pounding out a succession of rapid, wheel-perfect laps to build a margin of more than ten seconds by the time he handed the wheel to Cheng Congfu.
Cheng picked up the baton for the final hour where his team mate had left off, lapping more than a second faster than his nearest challenger, going on to take a dominant overall victory for the team.
Congratulations to FAW Audi Racing Team for its China Endurance Championship GT3 and GT4 wins respectively. Cheng Congfu and Chris Chia have fought back brilliantly after missing the first round to put themselves into the overall championship lead with one race remaining.
Alexander Blackie
Manager, Audi Sport customer racing Asia
Overall, it was a good result in the end. We started in P2 and took the lead in the first couple of laps, which was really beneficial for our performance. We built a gap, and then a safety car came out. We decided to wait for an extra lap to give us a better window for the pit stops during the second stint. In the second stint, we double-stinted Chris to assess his performance, which turned out to be quite good because we gained a 10-second lead after the second pit stop. The team also executed a good pit stop, gaining another 10 seconds on the second test car. So, all in all, it was a good result for us.
Martin Young
Team Manager, Absolute Racing
