Zhang Zhi Qiang and Zhang Zhen Dong win at Tianma

Zhang Zhi Qiang and Zhang Zhen Dong both took a win apiece in the TCR Asia-TCR China races at Tianma, with the TCR Asia series drivers' title now a two-way fight between Zhang Zhi Qiang and Ma Qing Hua, which will be decided at the season finale in Macau.
Zhang Zhi Qiang had led a Shell Teamwork Lynk & Co Racing 1-2 in qualifying ahead of his teammate and title rival Ma, but when Ma's car had a problem getting off the line, and so Zhang had an easy run into Turn 1, followed by two Chinese Super Cup cars. Wang Tao, in the Autohome Racing Team MG, soon passed the two Super Cup cars to move up to second, but by then, Zhang had begun building his lead.
Sunny Wong, in the third Teamwork Lynk & Co, was running third, but he was passed by all four of the MG XPower cars, who all got by him on lap three.
Zhang Zhen Dong emerged as the leading MG driver, and eventually caught up to Wang Tao, passing him on lap 16 to take second, but by now Zhang Zhi Qiang had built up a 35 second lead. He would only extend it by the finish, winning the race by nearly 51 seconds, and helping to secure Teamwork Motorsport Lynk & Co the teams' title.
In Race 2, Zhang Zhen Dong started from the pole, but was beaten off the line by Sunny Wong, with Zhang down to second just ahead of his MG teammate Cao Hong Wei. Zhang retook the lead on lap four, while behind Wong and the two MG cars of Cao and Rodolfo Ávila, were the Teamwork Lynk & Co cars of Zhang Zhi Qiang, and Ma Qing Hua.
Ma passed Zhang on lap five and closed on Ávila. As the latter passed one of the Super Cup cars, Ma tried to also go down their inside, but they made contact; Ma was able to carry on while the Super Cup car spun around. On lap ten, Cao caught and passed Wong to take second, but Wong was able to move back ahead as Cao made a mistake on the following lap. Ma then passed Ávila, and quickly caught up to Wong and Cao, with the duo falling back from Zhang Zhen Dong as they battled. This allowed Ma to get past both Cao and Wong on lap 12, while Zhang Zhi Qiang and Ávila were also able to get through. Cao ran into Wong on lap 14, which allowed Zhang Zhi Qiang through past the pair of them and up to third. The race then settled down, but Zhang would fall back behind Cao with three laps to go.
Zhang Zhen Dong went on to win by a little over seven seconds ahead of Ma and Cao, taking the lead in the TCR China standings, two points clear of Ávila, while Wang Tao lies in third position 15 further points adrift.
TCR China will resume tomorrow with Races 3 and 4 at 08:45 and 13:25 local times (01:45 and 06:25 CET); both will be streamed live at www.tcr-series.com. Ávila will start on pole position for Race 3, while the TCR Asia-only entries of Teamwork Motorsport pack up, heading for Macau.

Tianma – Race 1
1. Zhang Zhi Qiang (Shell Teamwork, Lynk & Co 03), 24 laps
2. Zhang Zhen Dong (MG XPower, MG 6), 50.708
3. Cao Hong Wei (MG XPower, MG 6), 1:01.034

Tianma – Race 2
1. Zhang Zhen Dong (MG XPower, MG 6), 27 laps
2. Ma Qing Hua (Shell Teamwork, Lynk & Co 03), 7.591
3. Cao Hong Wei (MG XPower, MG 6), 10.913

TCR Asia - Championship standings
1. Zhang Zhi Qiang 213; 2. Ma Qing Hua 193; 3. Zhang Zhen Dong 108

TCR China - Championship standings
1. Zhang Zhen Dong 150 pts; 2. Rodolfo Ávila 148; 3. Wang Tao 133 

Picture: TCR China