Asia Racing Team RFN could not convert a pole position, fastest lap and a three-hour race lead into victory at Round 3 of the China Endurance Championship (CEC) at the Zhuhai International Circuit. The strong performance from drivers Kevin Yang, Yuhao Dai and Rodolfo Ávila was cut short when the team was forced out of the race with 40 minutes remaining due to a wheel failure.
On Friday afternoon, the team dominated the 45-minute qualifying session, with each driver taking turns to set the fastest lap across the three 15-minute segments. Their consistent pace and strong performance throughout the session placed Asia Racing Team RFN at the front of the grid for Saturday’s 240-minute-plus-one-lap endurance race.
Despite starting from pole, the team approached the race with measured expectations. Saturday’s event marked Asia Racing Team RFN’s first race with this particular car, meaning both drivers and engineering crew were still learning the characteristics of the Ligier JS P320 LMP3 and how to extract its maximum performance.
The CEC features a multi-class grid spanning prototype and GT categories, bringing together LMP3, GT3 and GT4 cars in a competitive endurance format. The race started in wet conditions, with the most experienced driver of the trio, Rodolfo Ávila, taking the opening stint as the track dried slowly through the first hour.
Having never driven the car in the wet, the Macau driver took a cautious approach, but towards the end of his stint the tyres began to degrade heavily and vibrate significantly, forcing an early stop for a tyre change and driver swap.
Kevin Yang then took over and held off pressure from the cars behind to maintain the lead. It was far from a straightforward race, with tricky track conditions and two Code 60 periods disrupting the rhythm throughout.
Yuhao Di was the third driver to take the wheel and maintained the solid pace, avoiding the mistakes made by rivals. Racing an LMP3 car for the first time, he consolidated the team’s lead to a full lap over the chasing pack before handing the car back to Kevin Yang to complete the race.
On the fifth lap of the final stint, a wheel failure caused Kevin Yang to spin at Turn 3 (T3). There was little the team could do to recover from the resulting damage.
Asia Racing Team RFN Team Principal and driver Rodolfo Ávila said: “It was a frustrating way to finish the race. The team did a great job from day one, and the drivers executed the strategy flawlessly. At that point we were managing the pace and the car was running perfectly. Kevin felt the vibration at T1 on that lap and then spun at T3. We will look carefully at what happened and try to understand what went wrong there.”
Following this one-off China Endurance Championship appearance, the team now turns its focus to the challenges ahead, including three more rounds of the F4 Chinese Championship and the eagerly anticipated FIA F4 World Cup on the streets of Macau in November.
