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André Couto romps to an easy victory for MacPro Honda in Ningbo Race 1

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André Couto took a sensational victory on his racing return at the Ningbo International Speedpark, blastinga way as the lights went out to win the race by over 16 seconds ahead in his MacPro Racing Honda Civic TCR, finishing ahead of the two Volkswagens of Zhu Zhen Yu and Li Lin.

The 41-year-old Macanese made a great start, as did his team-mate Tang You Xi in the #8 Honda Civic, passing the Teamwork Motorsport Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR of Alex Hui for fourth at the start.

As Couto began to pull away from the two chasing Volkswagens, Tang was forced to defend against Hui’s Volkswagen, who eventually got the better of him on lap four, making his way past.

In the meantime, the top three had pulled away, but Hui managed to close up to the third-placed Leo109 Racing Volkswagen Golf of Li Lin and was now in a battle for the final podium spot with two laps to go.

Hui lunged up the inside at Turn 1 on the final lap, but the two drivers made contact. Both were able to continue however, with Li crossing the line third, while Hui backed off and continued on to finish fourth.

There was last lap drama for Tang’s Honda, who slowed to a crawl and failed to make the finish, but up front there was no stopping Couto, who took an unchallenged victory, the third for the MacPro Racing team this season, who are yet to not win a sprint race.

The second race is scheduled for 17:13 CST (11:13 CEST), with Couto again due to start from pole position.