Jack Young leads TCR China championship after Zhuzhou Win

Northern Ireland’s Jack Young has taken the lead of the competitive TCR China championship after a sensational weekend at the Zhuzhou International Circuit, returning to the track where he scored his first win in the series three months ago with the Dongfeng Honda Racing Team.

Jack romped to pole position in his Honda Civic Type R TCR ahead of experienced team-mate André Couto, and led the way at the start of the race, which was soon red-flagged following an incident behind him on the way into Turn 1. At the restart, he again pulled away and would eventually win the race by almost four seconds following another late safety car with the pack battling behind him.

The win put him in the lead of the drivers’ championship overnight, but with the top ten reversed on Sunday, all of his main title rivals would be starting ahead of him in the race. Jack made steady progress, up to eighth by the end of the first lap, and had made his way up to sixth, right behind the Hyundai of his closest championship rival Martin Cao when the race was red-flagged on lap four.

At the restart, Jack had a run at Cao at Turn 3, but Cao was able to get the switchback at Turn 4. A lap later and Jack tried a different tack, and was able to get up ahead of Cao exiting Turn 3, though with Cao giving him a light touch at the rear for fifth.

Another red flag followed following a crash further down the order, while his fifth place became fourth following an incident ahead in the fight for second, in which one of his other titles was eliminated from both the race and the championship.

Jack’s pole, win, and fourth place has helped secure him a six-point lead over Hyundai’s Martin Cao, and 35 over Lynk & Co’s Zhang Zhi Qiang heading to the season finale at Macau on November 16-19.

Jack Young said:

“It was a fantastic weekend, it almost couldn’t have been better. We had the pace all weekend in our Dongfeng Racing Honda Civic. It was great to get pole position, even if most of the pressure came from my team-mate, but I was able take pole position, and from there I was able to control the race. The second race was a little more nerve-racking, as to keep the championship lead we needed to make up places, but I was able to get past Zhang at the start and then I was able to make a move on Martin Cao in the middle of the race and from there I was able to hold on to finish fourth and score some really good points for the championship. We’re now leading the drivers’ championship, while Dongfeng Honda is now right up there in the teams’ battle, so it’s going to be a really exciting finale. Of course I’m now really looking forward to the last race in Macau, where we get to fight for the championship. It’s my first Macau, but then it was my first Zhejiang, first Zhuzhou, first Shanghai this year – so it’s a year of firsts. I have to thank Dongfeng Honda, MacPro Racing and JAS Motorsport for the amazing work on the car this weekend. The car has been mega from practice to race day, and I can’t wait to race it around the streets of Macau.”