Motorsports | Ávila gets podium finish; Couto finishes 10th in season kick-offs

Rodolfo Ávila

Macau driver Rodolfo Ávila had a strong start to the 2017 season of the China Touring Car Championship (CTCC), at the wheel of the Lamando GTS from Team SAIC Volkswagen 333 Racing.

With two back-to-back races in the neighboring city of Zhuhai, Ávila managed to score the first points in a championship that promised to be very competitive.

Rising from the ninth position on the grid in the first race, the local racer managed an impressive climb to third place, earning himself a position on the podium.

Due to a grid penalty, Ávila began his second race further back in the 13th position, but finished the race in seventh place.

Ávila was happy with the results achieved at the end of the race, saying: “To stand on the podium in the opening race of the China Touring Car Championship is great. I had two back-to-front races – from P9 to P3, and from P13 to P7. Thanks to SAIC Volkswagen for the opportunity. We will now head to GIC [Guangdong International Circuit] and try harder.”

Wang Rue, Ávila’s teammate at Team SAIC Volkswagen 333 Racing, and Haima’s driver Zixian He were the victors of the first and second races, respectively. Wang, who was already on pole position for the race, led the score table with 25 points, with Ávila sharing the fourth position with Britain’s Daniel Lloyd racing for Changan Ford team.

The next round of CTCC will be held at GIC, Zhaoqing, Guangdong on June 4 where Ávila will race the full season of CTCC.

Ávila is optimistic for the season, as he has noticed “the clear improvements in terms of reliability and performance” of the car he drove in two rounds of the championship last year.

André Couto

Meanwhile, André Couto has begun a busy racing season where he will compete in both China’s GT Championship and the Japanese Super GT Championship, and has taken the wheel of the Spirit Z team Nissan GT-R Nismo. He partnered with Singapore’s Yuey Tan for the kick-off of the Chinese GT series, which took place over the weekend at Goldenport International Circuit, Beijing.

The first two races of the season, Couto and Tan  placed 10th overall (in race 1 and 2) in the GT3 category, as Kings Racing’s Xu Jia claimed a double win during the opening rounds in an Audi R8 LMS.

The upcoming rounds of China GT Championship will take place at the Ordos International Circuit on July 8 and 9.

Couto will take to the track again this weekend at Autopolis for Round 3 of the Japanese Super GT championship, where he will drive a Porsche from D’Station racing team. RM