Saving the best to last…

Oddly enough, I hadn’t raced in China before.  But suffice to say it was far from a disappointing experience, if a little odd from time to time!

Catching the ferry from the glitz of Hong Kong to the rather weary port of Zhuhai made for a rather stark entrance into China “proper”.  (Yes, I know Hong Kong is Chinese, but you don’t need a Chinese visa, which you do for Zhuhai).  After a quick chat with one Mr M Hakkinen we were treated to the first of numerous heart-stopping taxi journeys from the town out to the circuit.  Alton Towers could learn a thing or two about providing rides that thrilling at £3 for 30 minutes.  And I really do think putting 20-odd taxi drivers on the circuit would have been a hoot….

Once at the circuit we navigated the three hundred and twenty seven thousand guards (give or take) and found the team with a miraculously rebuilt car.  I think they must have locked one of the mechanics in the container for the journey from the USA…  Oskar and I were joined by another new teammate for this final round, Danish touring car expert Rene Rasmussen.  The circuit itself was fairly flat and unexciting, with four second-gear corners leading into long straights which were going to leave the under-powered Evora at the mercy of everything out there.

And so it proved.  Thankfully the various test sessions passed without major drama, but we were clearly in for a long race where results would come from keeping going rather than blasting past the field.  We were further hindered by having to run an old specification of brakes as the revised versions had been destroyed in Atlanta and this set were costing us at least a second a lap.  My qualifying session was ok, although not what I was targeting.  However, it didn’t matter too greatly as James Rossiter in the sister car had delivered what in his words was “one of the best qualifying laps I’ve ever driven” and was sat immediately in front of me on the grid for his reward.

Back in the town, the oddness continued with a variation on the Le Mans drivers’ parade one evening.  Perched on the back of various sports cars and the odd golf kart we were driven along one of the main streets past a cohort of very severe looking officials and then hundreds of bemused looking locals who clearly had no idea who we were, but seemed to be enjoying themselves.  Certainly one of the odder things I’ve ever done!

The pre-race events on race day were equally amusing with incredibly enthusiastic fans at the autograph session and a grid walk complete with Chinese dragons and lions.

Unfortunately for the team, the sister pro car had some last minute problems and failed to make the grid for the second race in a row, but at least it would start from the pit lane (albeit with a random one lap penalty, presumably for Johnny’s “off” in the warm up session..??!)  My first stint was extremely uneventful as I focused on keeping a consistent pace, looking after the tyres and trying to stay in touch with the cars in front.  Amazingly as I pitted after an hour or so, I found we were running a season-best of fourth in class!  OK, the place gains were due to problems for the other cars (including our sister car), but it all counts…  Rene and Oskar then ran steady stints which kept us on course for a classified finish, but saw us fall back to sixth in class as both #65 Evora and the Fisichella  propelled Ferrari 458 shot past.  

As Oskar brought the car back to hand over to me, the crew were forced to take a few minutes to work on the ventilation as the gearbox temperatures were running dangerously high.  Whilst in the garage they also changed the brake pads, which were wearing at an incredibly high rate.  This seemed likely to relegate us permanently to sixth place, but at least we were looking good to finish.  My stint was again consistent and uneventful.

Rene took over and had clearly found his groove as his times came down nicely.  And suddenly the Fisichella Ferrari was in trouble and in the garage again, as was the other Lotus.  Sixth place became fifth as we passed our teammates and closed in on the stationary Ferrari.  With 45 minutes or so to go, Rene handed over to Oskar who set off after that fourth place.  Never one to turn down the opportunity for drama, on the very lap that would achieve fourth place, he managed to slide into one of the gravel traps to the extreme consternation of those in the pits!  After what seemed an absolute age, the marshals pushed him out and finally he completed the lap and fourth was ours!

Could we dare to dream of managing a podium?  Well, perhaps we did dream for a minute, but the Ferrari and two BMWs in front of us never looked like missing a beat, and never did.  Oskar carried on without further drama and despite the Fisichella Ferrari getting going again we were comfortably ahead and not troubled by it before the flag.  

And so we achieved the team’s best result of the year, beating messrs Fisichella and Hakkinen into the bargain.  Even more pleasingly we scored 10 championship points which, added to our 4 from Spa, meant we had outscored the sister car 14-13 over the course of an amazing season.  

Not too bad really we thought as we reflected over a few well-earned beers that evening at the season-ending beach party…

Bring on a shot at the World GTE-Am title!