Nogaro

Returning from a month long vocation since Sepang Michael Ting Chi-Hwa and the crew of Asia Racing Team returns to Zhuhai for the 7th and 8th round of the Asian Formula Renault Championship. Due to health reasons Ting was not able to show off his talents at the last Zhuhai meeting, and this time Ting was determined to set the records straight about his abilities at Zhuhai.

<img src="http://www.michaelting.com/images/blog/ZIC_Rd78_Mar81.jpg">

The ART rookie seems to have lost none of the speed and fire last seen at Sepang in June and was competitive straight away in practice after a month of total break. Leading fellow ART driver Ma Qing Hua, Zhang Jin, Ross Lau, and newcomer Ronnie Liu of Taiwan, Michael focused on re-familiarizing with the car on Thursday. Weather forecast over the race week shows an approaching typhoon, which introduced varieties of track conditions throughout Thursday and Friday's practice sessions. Michael remained podium prone in all of the dry session and looked race winning in the wet. "I'm not entirely happy with my driving, I feel I could clean up my driving at a few corners but I'm quite happy we are still competitive," said Ting.

<img src="http://www.michaelting.com/images/blog/ZIC_Rd78_Rik104.jpg">


However poor luck struck again as 2005 seems for sure to be a character-building season for Michael Ting. Only three laps into the qualifying session while on provisional pole a transmission failure forced Ting to abandon the session. With rest of the field lapping faster and faster due to lighter fuel load and improving track condition Michael's time in the opening 3 laps was only good enough for 12th on the grid for round 7. "This was a major shame as I was being very competitive in the session even on old left over tires from the last event over a month ago. I'm very sure I had at least a 2nd row start if I had finished the session," lamented Ting. "But what's done is done, right now I've to focus on staying out of trouble as I start right in the middle of the grid and work on gaining positions and finishing both races." Fellow ART drivers qualified well with Zhang Jin in 5th, Ma Qing Hua in 6th, Ross Lau in 19th, and Ronnie Liu at 21st.

<img src="http://www.michaelting.com/images/blog/ZIC_Rd78_Mar133.jpg">


With a good start in Race 1 Michael was able to gain 1 position on approach to turn 1. Realizing the danger of being mid pack Michael chose a more conservative racing strategy aiming for points after the qualifying blunder. Being more conservative then he is used to, Michael chose not to get into the 7 cars melee at turn 1 and dropped back 2 positions. Keeping room between himself and the front pack became a great decision, at the very next corner the inevitable contact occurred as Wyne Shen of FRD collided into Michael Choi of DTM. Taking advantage of the confusion, Michael managed to make up one more position. With the grid now in single file Michael begin to focus on picking off cars in front one by one. Kenneth Lau of DTM became the next victim as Michael passes to go up to 11th. A few crowd-pleasing laps of battle with Francis Tjia of FRD move Michael up to 10th. Consistent quick laps paid off as Michael soon caught up to the front battle of Liu Yang, Ma Qing Hua, and David Louie. In the next few laps Michael gain few lucky positions as David Louie spins at the high-speed turn 14 and moves Ting up to 9th. On the last lap teammate and reserve driver of A1GP Team China Ma Qing Hua in front also spins at turn 14, luckily for Michael, Ma's backward spinning car came short of the timing line only be a meter. "I was looking at Ma's rear wheel and wondered if my nose will cross the finish line before it!" This gives Michael one more position as he crosses the line to finished 8th from 13th in race one. Zhang Jin kept his good qualifying result by staying in 5th, Ma Qing Hua recovers for the last meter spin in 9th, Ross Lau moves up to finish 14th, new comer Ronnie Liu completes his first race at 19th.

<img src="http://www.michaelting.com/images/blog/ZIC_Rd78_Mar78.jpg">


Making good progress in race 1 was half of Michael's plan to get the best out of the week as he plans to get closer to the top 5 in race 2. The weather seemed promising for all cars to start Round 8 on slicks. Zhang Jin, Michael Ting and Ma Qing Hua all but made a good opening lap as they fell one or two spots back from their starting positions. This prompted the trio to push and it was Michael Ting who managed to make better progress by getting past teammate Zhang Jin to occupy 7th by lap 4. Equally making progress was Ma Qing Hua who climbing to 10th after 5 laps. Ross Lau and Liu Yi Hung inched their way in the middle of the field but Hung found himself in the gravel after 4 laps. Ross ended his race on lap 7. With an opening in front Michael was able to catch up to Henry Lee and Liu Yang battle that was 2 sec in front on lap 6. Knowing Liu was much faster then Lee, Michael patiently stayed close. On Lap 9 Lee cracked under pressure from Liu making a mistake at turn 12 running wide. Seizing the chance Michael followed Liu into the opening created by Lee, which moves both drivers through in one turn. With now a two car dual Ting begin to attack Liu with laps of .5 sec faster. The seasoned Liu was able to keep a much faster attacking but cautious Ting for the last laps as both cross the line nose to tail. Michael again made forward progress to finish 6th, Ma Qing Hua in 8th, Zhang Jin close behind in 9th. "It's a shame we had the mechanical problem in qualifying, as I am sure a podium was in our hands according to the lap times Michael was doing," commented team manager Philippe Descombes.

<img src="http://www.michaelting.com/images/blog/ZIC_Rd78_Mar60.jpg">


"We all were very happy of Zhang Jin's qualifying times being only 3/10th away from the pole, a fantastic feat for a rookie. Ma Qing Hua had some trouble adjusting back to the Formula Renault after intensive testing in the A1GP car, we are sure his results does not reflect his full potential. We are very very happy to see Ross to finish 14th and put some much younger boys to shame. At last Ronnie complete all could have been asked for someone with no prior motorsport experience to finish Race 1 and some good battle in Race 2. "

In less then a month ART will make its final return in 2005 to Shanghai International Circuit for Round 9 and 10 of the Asian Formula Renault Championship. Last time out both Michael and Zhang Jin dominated at the Shanghai circuit and both driver is looking forward to doing the same again.

D all over

Nice work. Too bad about the tranny problems, but better in qualifying than the race!