2011 Supercup Chinese Grand Prix

The 2011 Supercup Chinese Grand Prix saw an incredible race featuring grid drama, sudden disconnections, a leader's mistake and an amazing 6-car fight for the win, which eventually saw Nordsjoen Racing's Lewis Redshaw triumph for the first time.

An impressive effort from Bart de Vos clinched the Belgian driver yet another pole position in qualifying. So going into the race, it promised excitement from the go with three debutants on the grid - Lewis Redshaw for Nordsjoen, Ihab Abbas for Water Blue Racing and Simon Cattell for PB Racing. However it was one of the experienced drivers, David Jundt, who span on the grid and end up facing the wall. Luckily, the Swiss driver was allowed to start from the pits, where he was joined by Redshaw, whose engine puffed away during the formation lap.

Besides a shunt between Nikos Evangelidakis and Adam Smith on the grid, the field got off cleanly, with De Vos pipped into turn 1 by Simon Cattell and Pavel Loknovski. The three drivers would duel for several laps, until the Estonian was taken out of contention by a collision with the lapped car of Evangelidakis. Cattell seemed to be the only one able to challenge De Vos for the win and he himself was almost half a minute ahead of a crowded pack, made up of Sam Millar, Liam Hatchell, Samuli Leinonen and Gregg Lawson who all battled fiercely for P3. Positions were traded several times, with Leinonen unbeatable on the straights but Millar clearly the most suited to the mixed speed part of sector 2. A resurgent Loknovski and Redshaw - who had fought his way up from the pitlane - joined the train with about 10 laps to the end.

Unfortunately for De Vos, a disconnection meant that his race was over as soon as he had managed to open a gap from Cattell, who seemed then destined for an easy win. Behind him, Redshaw and Loknovski had somehow managed to break free of the pack and were battling furiously for P2 - until, with just 2 laps to go, live timing started indicating a massive reduction in Cattell's advantage. The PB Racing driver paid a really dear price for a fade in concentration as he hit a kerb and rolled the car, losing the rear wing and throwing a certain win down the drain. A grateful Redshaw, managing to distance Loknovski, simply had to nurse the car home to claim a famous win in his debut race and the first trophy for Nordsjoen in this Supercup campaign. Loknovski was close second, while Liam Hatchell beat Millar to 4th.