Chinese Race Car Champion Arrested Following Shanghai Street Race

Porsche GT3 vs. Infiniti

A former Chinese race car champion was among those arrested after a video of two sports cars racing on a busy Shanghai highway went viral.

Zhang Zhendong, a member of the racing team “Lingrui 300+” and a former China Touring Car Championship winner, was one of the drivers arrested. Zhang was driving a red Porsche GT3 that reached speeds of 183 kilometers per hour during the race.

The other vehicle, an Infiniti, was driven by car mechanic, Yang Zhengxing.

The video showed the passenger’s perspective as Yang chased after Zhang, weaving in and out of traffic and narrowly missing other cars.

The chase started at Handan Road Tunnel and ended up at the Pudong exit of the Jungong Road Tunnel. The two drivers covered about 11 kilometers in about 10 minutes.

Yang said he did not personally know Zhang; but, he wanted to race the driver upon seeing the Porsche. “All I thought about was to race the Porsche for sheer excitement,” he said. Both drivers did not own the cars they were racing.

Shanghai Daily reported they both face a maximum of six months detention and fines for illegal lane change and speeding.

China’s fascination with high-end sports cars is reflected in the country’s top-grossing Hollywood film of all time, Furious 7, as well as domestic features like Mr Six. Although ownership of such rare and expensive cars is limited to the very few, collisions involving these cars are common in China.

A McLaren P1 supercar worth $2 million crashed in Hangzhou this past April. In March of 2015, a Ferrari 458 worth, $300,000, split in two after hitting a tree in Foshan. Similar fates have befallen Lamborghinis and Maseratis.

You can watch the video here.

Charles Liu

The Nanfang's Senior Editor