Chinese Cup ‘evolves’

Completing the program for the Macau Grand Prix is the Chinese Racing Cup, a standalone race and former one-brand series that aims to bring together drivers from mainland China, Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan in a “Greater China Racing Competition,” as it was initially known.
This competition has adopted the TCR (Touring Car Series) specifications for this edition, allowing the inclusion of several new Volkswagen Golf GTI, Audi RS3 LMS and one Seat Leon, along with the Baic Senova D50 cars. This is a significant evolution from the previously used Senova D70.

The race has also abandoned the idea of a “Chinese-only” competition, instead opting for a more diverse list that includes in total 36 drivers. One is from South Korea, a first for the race.

Another big difference is that this race, unlike before, is now part of a championship that is held across four rounds and seven races. The Macau race is only the second event of the racing program and not a “Season Finale” as in previous editions.

Due to these changes, it may be harder to pick a winner this year, though last year’s winner David Zhu and last year’s second runner-up Jason Zhang are in good positions – both are certainly skilled and experienced enough – to attack the podium. Also in the mix are Hélder Assunção and Deng Bao Wei, other strong performers from last year.

Notably, some very experienced drivers will participate this year – including Hong Kong’s Kenneth Lau, Kenneth Look, Sunny Wong and Michael Choi – which will make this race much more interesting.