Eurasia Motorsport secured a hat-trick of fourth place finishes in the Formula Masters China Series’ (FMCS) visit to the Zhuhai International Circuit (ZIC), to further consolidate its third position in the Teams’ standings with one meeting remaining (18-20 September).
Returning to a purpose built race circuit after the series’ outing on the streets of Kuala Lumpur, all four of Eurasia Motorsport’s drivers, Sean Hudspeth, Aidan Read, Kim Jeong Tae and William Lok, were quick to fettle the setups and record representative laptimes in free practice on Friday (18 September).
Hudspeth and Read were comfortably inside the top six and Lok continued to get close to the pace, but an accident at Turn 1 for Jeong Tae saw his car written off and his weekend come to an abrupt end.
However, it was Read who led the Eurasia Motorsport charge in Saturday’s (19 September) qualifying session on the punishing Zhuhai track, as the young Australian went fifth and two tenths faster than his Singaporean teammate, Hudspeth, in sixth.
A gearbox issue for Matthew Swanepoel resulted in an extra formation lap and a reduced race distance and there was action aplenty when the 11-lapper got underway in earnest., Hudspeth battling Daniel Woodroof and Nicholas Rowe for several laps before losing track position, as Read pursued the podium places in fourth.
Read and Hudspeth continued to show grit and determination to take the fight to the frontrunners in Sunday’s (20 September) races, but once again narrowly missed on podium finishes, each receiving the chequered flag in fourth position to round out a positive weekend for the Asian Eurasia Motorsport team.
“It was nice to finish the weekend on a high,” said Hudspeth. “It was a tough weekend with lots of tussles here and there – in the second race I had an incident with another car and took off; the car left the ground for a moment, but, despite carrying a damaged front wing, I still managed to go up four positions and finish eighth. There are lots of positives to take away from the weekend in Zhuhai.”
“I’ve really learnt a lot in the Formula Masters China Series. It has been a hugely competitive season, I have loved mixing it with some really top drivers and I feel like I’ve raised my game, but I also feel like I have a lot of room to improve. The circuits and the level of competition have really developed my skillset as a driver. I have to say that Volkswagen is doing a splendid job at building a car culture in China with an involvement in series like the FMCS.”
Read added: “Overall, it has been a good weekend and I’ve enjoyed learning the fast and unique circuit for the first time. We were able to find some good setup improvements during Friday, which set us up well for the weekend, where we finished fourth on two occasions and come away with some strong points that has closed the gap to third position in the Drivers’ standings, while increasing a gap to fifth place. I am looking to give it my everything at the Shanghai International Circuit for the final round of the FMCS.”
