The past weekend I attended the The 5th Annual TWSF Hong Kong YCH Hospital Charity Carpet Race. It was held in a shopping mall with a temporary carpet track. With over 200 entries along with a busy schedule, it was a 2-day race. I arrived in Hong Kong on Friday night along with fellow HB teammate Rocket. The organizers were building the track so no practice was available.
On Saturday morning, we had one round of practice but it was hard to set the car up because the carpet had no grip. The first day was also scheduled for four rounds of qualifying, so after the morning practice we went straight to Q1. I had a horrible start to qualifying with my car being under steer due to the lack of traction. I made some changes to the setup but the result of Q2 was the same. However, the good thing was that the traction was starting to shape up and the groove was starting to show. I was really struggling so after a little discussion with Hara-tune on Facebook, I went with a completely different setup for Q3. It was a big step forward for me so I managed to take 2nd for that round. I was still a bit off the pace compared to Yugo and Hayato so I had to make further setup changes. While the grip started to get higher and higher, I took a gamble for Q4 and I switched to my 2nd car fitted with an aluminum chassis. It was another huge step forward for me as the car had pace. I managed to take 1st in Q4 so going into the final round of qualifying scheduled for Sunday morning, I had a chance to take the overall TQ.
Sunday was a new day and everything worked out great. There was no practice in the morning so I was worried the track would be loose, however due to the fact that I am in the last heat, the track was pretty much kicked in and was the same as last night. It was a show down between me, Yugo, and Hayato to see who could take the overall TQ. My car was still dialed so a fantastic Q5 gave me the top spot for the triple mains.
A1 started off pretty well until a back marker hit me but it did not do much damage so I ended with a win in A1. Fellow teammate Rocket also had a great run with a 2nd place finish so it was HB 1 & 2. The 2nd final was much better but a fast charging Hayato made it a good race, but a mistake by him helped me pull away and win A2.
I am super happy with how everything worked out even though I had a slow start. However, the new Pro5 was amazing and showed everyone it’s potential. Thanks for everyone’s support and as always it was nice to see old friends and new friends!