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2022 Formula Renault Super Challenge

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The 2022 Formula Renault Super Challenge, was a multi-event, Formula Renault open-wheel single seater motor racing championship held across Asia.[1]

When the series last ran in 2019, it was known as Asian Formula Renault and used Formula Renault 2.0 machinery. A switch to Formula Regional cars to align with the developments in Europe was planned, but the seasons in 2020 and 2021 were both cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2022, this switch was tried for the third time, but the once again rebranded Alpine Formula Racing Asia Series attracted no entries, so the Formula Renault Super Challenge was founded to hold races using old Formula Renault 2.0 cars again.[2][3][4]

After six races over three rounds all held at Zhuzhou International Circuit, Gerrard Xie became champion when the fourth round was cancelled and no replacement came to be. His team, H-Star Racing, won the teams' title.

Teams and drivers

Team No. Driver name Class Rounds
FRD Racing 2 Hong Kong Brian Lai P 2–3
7 China Yat Chau Lin R 1
13 Hong Kong Kenneth Ma P 1–2
17 China Press Zhu P 3
25 China Selina Li P 3
77 Hong Kong Jacky Wong P 3
Pointer Racing 3 Hong Kong Allen Lo E 1
33 3
7 China Tianhao Zhu E 2
57 China Jason Wu P 2–3
H-Star Racing 3 Hong Kong Gerrard Xie P 2–3
9 Hong Kong Hugo Hung E All
11 Macau Nicholas Lai E 1–2
37 Hong Kong Donnie Deng E 2
55 Hong Kong William Kwok R 1
77 Hong Kong Jacky Wong P 1
Grid Motorsport 12 China Siling Bei P 1
Zhuzhou International Circuit Team 63 China Fu Bin E 1, 3
Sources: [5][6][7][8]
Icon Class
P Pro
E Elite
R Rookie

Calendar and results

The planned calendar was revealed in April of 2022.[4] All events were held in China. In early July, the Xiamen event was cancelled.[9] The third event of the season was later postponed by two weeks.[10] The season finale was then also postponed by six weeks, before eventually being cancelled entirely because of China's zero-COVID policy. It was believed a replacement event was to be organized, but those plans did not come to fruition.[11][12]

Round Circuit Date Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver Winning team Elite Class winner Rookie Class winner
1 R1 Zhuzhou International Circuit, Zhuzhou 22 May China Siling Bei China Siling Bei China Siling Bei Grid Motorsport Hong Kong Hugo Hung Hong Kong William Kwok
R2 China Siling Bei China Siling Bei Grid Motorsport China Fu Bin Hong Kong William Kwok
2 R3 Zhuzhou International Circuit, Zhuzhou 19 June China Gerrard Xie China Gerrard Xie China Gerrard Xie H-Star Racing Macau Nicholas Lai no entries
R4 China Gerrard Xie China Gerrard Xie H-Star Racing Hong Kong Jason Wu no entries
3 R5 Zhuzhou International Circuit, Zhuzhou 28 August China Gerrard Xie China Gerrard Xie China Gerrard Xie H-Star Racing Hong Kong Allen Lo no entries
R6 China Gerrard Xie China Gerrard Xie H-Star Racing Hong Kong Hugo Hung no entries

Season summary

After two years of absence owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, Formula Renault-level racing was back in Asia under the new "Formula Renault Super Challenge" guise. Nine drivers were entered into the first round of the championship, held at Zhuzhou International Circuit. The whole weekend was very rainy, and Siling Bei coped the best with the conditions. He set pole, and went on to win the first race ahead of Jacky Wong and William Kwok. His win in race one handed him pole for race two, where he repeated his efforts to claim a perfect weekend. Wong was second once again, and Kwok also repeated his podium success, this time having to fight off a charging Yat Chau Lin. Bei ended the first round with 60 points to his name, twelve points ahead of Wong.[13]

Round two was held at the same circuit, but Bei was absent. In his place, it was debutant Gerrard Xie who set the pace all weekend. He won qualifying and kept his lead despite a bad start. He won the race ahead of Jason Wu, who also joined the championship for round two, and Nicholas Lai. Like Bei in round one, Xie then went on to also win race two. Wu was on the podium again, this time in third, despite dropping back at the start. Second was his teammate Tianhao Zhu. With his two wins matching Bei's efforts from round one, Xie and Bei now were equal on 60 points. Kenneth Ma led the standings two points ahead of the pair, despite not having a podium to his name, courtesy of his consistent finishes in all four races so far.[14]

The third round was originally planned to be held at the newly constructed Xiamen International Circuit, but was later postponed and once again held in Zhuzhou. Xie was once again the driver to beat, comfortably setting pole position in qualifying. He was unmatched in the first race and left Wu and Brian Lai to fight over second, with Wu eventually coming out on top. Race two offered much of the same, Xie once again unchallenged on top and Wu and Lai fighting behind. This time it was Lai who was able to claim second place. Four wins out of four races saw Xie climb on top of the standings, and Wu's two podiums put him in second, 32 points behind Xie.[15]

Issues with communication became apparent leading up to round three, with the venue change from Xiamen to Zhuzhou not being communicated to the outside world until after the event was over. These issues worsened after round three, with only secondary sources reporting of the eventual cancellation of all further events. This cancellation awarded Xie the title. While it was good to see Formula Renault competition back in Asia, the field severely lacked depth and competition, never attracting double-digit entry numbers.

Championship standings

Points system

Points were awarded to the top 14 classified finishers.

Drivers' Championship
Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th   10th   11th   12th   13th   14th 
Points 30 24 20 17 15 13 11 9 7 5 4 3 2 1

Drivers' Championship

Pos Driver ZHZ1 ZHZ2 ZHZ3 Pts
1 Hong Kong Gerrard Xie 1 1 1 1 120
2 China Jason Wu 2 3 2 3 88
3 Hong Kong Jacky Wong 2 2 4 4 82
4 Hong Kong Brian Lai 6 8 3 2 66
5 Hong Kong Kenneth Ma 5 5 4 5 62
6 China Siling Bei 1 1 60
7 Hong Kong Hugo Hung 4 7 8 4 DNS Ret 54
8 Macau Nicholas Lai 8 8 3 6 51
9 Hong Kong William Kwok 3 3 40
10 China Tianhao Zhu 5 2 39
11 China Yat Chau Lin 7 4 28
12 China Selina Li 6 5 28
13 China Fu Bin 6 6 Ret Ret 26
14 Hong Kong Donnie Deng 7 7 22
15 Hong Kong Allen Lo DNS DNS 5 DNS 15
— China Press Zhu DNS DNS —
Pos Driver ZHZ1 ZHZ2 ZHZ3 Pts
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver Second place
Bronze Third place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Retired (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

Bold – Pole

Italics – Fastest Lap

Teams' Championships

Pos Team Points
1 H-Star Racing 60
2 FRD Racing 38
3 Pointer Racing 30
4 Grid Motorsport 16
5 Zhuzhou International Circuit Team 8

References

  1. ^ "Welcome in the new racing season – Formula Renault Super Challenge 2022 | Formula Renault". 2022-05-12. Retrieved 2022-05-21.
  2. ^ Wood, Ida (2020-11-20). "Where Formula Renault is headed next, and how it got there". Formula Scout. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  3. ^ "2021 Formula Asia Series and Provisional Calendar – Formula Renault". Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  4. ^ a b Wood, Ida (2022-04-08). "Formula Renault series get rebranded for 2022". Formula Scout. Retrieved 2022-04-10.
  5. ^ "Formula Renault AsiaCup - Grid position for Race 1 tomorrow #FormulaRenault #formularenaultsuperchallenge #rsasiamotorsport #GridMotorsport #hstarracing #Frdracing | Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2022-05-21.
  6. ^ "2022雷诺方程式超级挑战杯" (PDF).
  7. ^ "雷诺方程式超级挑战杯 株洲国际赛车场 (ZZIC) 雷诺方程式正赛 1" (PDF).
  8. ^ "Formula Renault Super Challenge 2022 Event 3 Race 1" (PDF).
  9. ^ "Formula Renault Super Challenge first race in Xiamen track | Formula Renault". 2022-07-08. Retrieved 2022-07-08.
  10. ^ "Formula Renault Super Challenge Event 3 – postponed to August 27-28 in Xiamen | Formula Renault". 2022-08-01. Retrieved 2022-08-03.
  11. ^ "China's Formula Renault Super Challenge series was supposed to conclude last weekend at Shanghai". Twitter.
  12. ^ "The FRenault Super Challenge title decider at Shanghai has been called off again". Formula Scout on Twitter. 30 October 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  13. ^ "Thanks to a Perfect weekend S.L. Bei shines at ZZIC | Formula Renault". 2022-05-26. Retrieved 2022-12-31.
  14. ^ "FR Super Challenge in Zhuzhou welcomed drivers from Cross Strait Four Regions | Formula Renault". 2022-06-21. Retrieved 2022-12-31.
  15. ^ "雷诺方程式挑战杯株洲热战再开 谢咏霖演帽子戏法 | Formula Renault" (in Chinese (China)). 2022-09-02. Retrieved 2022-12-31.
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