Motorsports | Andre Couto shines in Ningbo under Macau colors

Macau driver Andre Couto had an almost perfect weekend racing at Ningbo International Speedway in China’s Zhejiang province.

Racing for the first time in the colors of an all-Macau racing team “MacPro Racing” in the Chinese TCR Championship, Couto’s start could not have been better. He had the best times in the qualifying sessions on Friday, granting him pole positions for both Race 1 and 2 on Saturday.

In the races, Couto dominanted, scoring two wins in two “lights-to-flag” races, winning the first race almost 17 seconds ahead of Volkswagen drivers Zhu Zhen Yu and Li Lin.

In the second race, the story was not much different with Couto taking the lead up front and keeping a constant pace that led his Honda Civic TCR to a final win with an over 31-second lead over Zhou Bi Huang’s Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR.

After Race 2 and in the press conference that followed, Couto expressed happiness with the results obtained in the first two races, saying: “Today was a great victory for the team. The temperature [on the track] was very high and the performance of the car gave some trouble, especially on the cornering as I felt some under-steering issues. At the beginning of the race, the car behind me also increased the pressure on me, but I managed to pull away and finish in the lead. As a Macau driver, I am very happy to win this race while racing for a Macau team.”

The last and the longest of the races was held yesterday, a one-hour endurance-style race that eventually turned to chaos, when the rain made an appearance and wiped out half of the already-shortened field, due to racing incidents from the previous day.

Starting third on the grid due to the reverse grid draw system, Couto began strong and was already leading the pack at turn 1 and, as on the previous day, attempted to close the gap between the competition, which was at the time led by Zhu Zhen Yu of the CUS Team Volkswagen.

After only seven laps of the race, drama unfolded when the rain started to fall at Ningbo circuit.

Taking precautions, Couto reduced his pace drastically, which allowed both Zhu and Hong Kong’s Sunny Wong to pass him, earning them the first and second places respectively.

Couto then decided to force a pit stop for wet tires before the expected pit stop window, while Zhu and Wong decided to stay on the track until the pit window was open.

Eventually, the move was not a good one for them, especially for Zhu, as they found the track flooded upon returning to it.

At the start of the 10th lap both Zhu and Wong’s cars aquaplaned off the track, with Zhu hitting the barriers hard, while Wong slipped onto the gravel trap.

The race was then red-flagged and eventually called off by race direction, due to the conditions.

The win was eventually attributed to Wong, who finished ahead of the two MacPro Racing Hondas, while Couto was third. The HE Racing Volkswagen of Li Xue Feng finished fourth and last, as the other four contenders did not finish the race.  RM