Daniel Lloyd won a very wet second race in TCR China’s finale at Zhouzhou International Circuit. However, this was not enough for the young Englishman to clinch the title, because his rival Huang Chu Han recovered after a spin to finish the race in sixth position and so retained a four-point lead in the final standings.
At the start, André Couto took the lead from Lloyd and Martin Xie, but after a few turns he spun and dropped to fourth behind Engstler. During the first lap Couto tried to regain the third position, but t-boned Engstler’s car that spun and rejoined in fifth position, while Couto’s remained stranded in the middle of the track and the safety car was deployed.
The neutralization lasted for six laps and when racing resumed, Lloyd increased his leading margin, while Xie defended the second place from Huang, Look and Engstler. In lap 8, Engstler overtook Look for P4, while Huang spun, dropping from third to eighth.
After a brief fight, Engstler passed Xie to move into P2 and then tried to close the gap to Lloyd, but the latter had already built a huge margin, while Xie and Look continued cruising in third and fourth positions. During the final laps Huang was able to pass both Alex Liu and James Wong to finish sixth behind the MG of Zhang Zhen Dong, and so he secured the TCR China title.
Race 2
1. Daniel Lloyd (MacPro Racing, Honda Civic FK8), 12 laps
2. Luca Engstler (Team Engstler, Hyundai i30 N), 8.291
3. Martin Xie (MacPro Racing, Honda Civic FK8), 12.673
4. Kenneth Look (Team NewFaster, Audi RS 3 LMS), 19.928
5. Zhang Zhen Dong (XPower Team, MG 6), 21.176
Championship points
1. Huang 144 pts; 2. Lloyd 140; 3. Look 104