December 13th, Shanghai Tienma Circuit: The 6th round of China Circuit Championship (CCC) was held at Shanghai Tienma Circuit (1lap/2.063km). Racing a NISSAN Tiida in the 1600cc class, the #3 machine of Guo Haisheng came 4th, the result guaranteeing him his second Driver's championship title since 2006. In addition, teammate Lin Lifeng in the #4 car finished 3rd, netting the DongFeng NISSAN Ghia team the Teams' title trophy.
The final round of the CCC took place at Shanghai's Tienma circuit, a track where F3 and other races are held, as opposed to Shanghai's F1 circuit, site of the opening race of the season. The track has a compact layout measuring just over 2km, and is flat and narrow - making overtaking difficult. Any mistakes here would surely have an affect on the overall outcome. Official qualifying took place on the day prior to the race, the session getting underway after sunset due to a delay in the schedule. All cars used their headlights in the poor visibility, with the #4 machine of Lin managing to set the 2nd-quickest time, while teammate and points' leader Guo lined up 6th on the grid.
The race was held on the 13th (Saturday). It was cloudy in the morning, but clear skies appeared later on - perfect racing conditions. In the grandstands, the Tiida Cheerleading team gathered one after another from all over the Shanghai area, and by the time the race was about to get underway at 1:30pm, the seats were nearly all full. They cheered their heroes along to the beat of drums.
After the formation lap, the 39-lap race began. The #4 car of Lin, which had started on the front row, followed the pole-sitting #1 VW Polo in the early stages of the race. The #3 car of Guo maintained his starting position of 6th. On lap 10, the #2 VW Polo spun out of 3rd place, and Guo immediately advanced to 5th. On lap 17, Lin Lifeng served his drive-through penalty for jumping the start, returning in 7th position. This moved the #3 car of Guo up to 4th. In the final stages of the race, Guo, who had been closely studying those in front, started catching up. On lap 27, the #6 Cerato was overtaken by the #7 sister car. While those two cars were battling for position, Guo made his move, getting past both machines. The #6 Cerato tried to regain the position, but in the braking area, collided with the rear of Guo's car. After the coming-together, both cars stopped out on track. Guo was able to re-start, but the #6 Cerato was stalled on track and with nine laps to go, the race was red-flagged. The #4 machine of Lin Lifeng took the third step on the podium. Guo in the #3 car finished 4th, becoming the 2008 1600cc class champion.
After first winning it in 2006, this is the 2nd time the NISSAN Tiida has taken the CCC championship. The entire NISSAN Cheerleading team applauded the victors the moment they took the title.
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