Following a successful debut victory at Sepang, Gresham Wagner returned to Lotus Cup China for Round 2 at the Ningbo Circuit, alongside teammate Shaoyi Che with Racing Panda. The pair continued their full-season campaign in the Pro-Am class while pursuing the overall Lotus Cup China Championship on another circuit that was new to Wagner.
The weekend began with productive testing and practice as the Racing Panda team worked through a comprehensive setup program, making continual refinements to the Lotus Emira Cup car throughout each session. Although the team’s progress resulted in a much-improved race car by the end of practice, qualifying fell slightly short of expectations, leaving Wagner and Che with work to do once the racing began.
Che took the opening stint of Race 1 and delivered a strong performance, keeping the car in contention before handing over to Wagner for the closing stint. Wagner quickly began moving forward through the field and was running third overall while challenging the leaders when, with just seven minutes remaining, a suspension failure forced the team to retire from the race.
Despite the disappointment of the Race 1 DNF, the Racing Panda crew immediately went to work rebuilding the car, replacing damaged components and thoroughly preparing the Lotus for Sunday’s second race.
Starting from the rear of the field as a result of the retirement, Che produced an excellent opening stint in Race 2, gaining multiple positions on the opening lap and keeping the team firmly in contention before the mandatory driver change. A strong pit stop by the Racing Panda crew elevated Wagner to second overall as he exited the pits, putting the team in position to fight for the race win.
Wagner wasted little time capitalizing, hunting down the race leader before completing a decisive pass around the outside of Turn 12 to take the overall lead. Shortly afterward, a Full Course Yellow neutralized the race, but Wagner executed a clean restart and steadily built a comfortable advantage over the field.
With the car performing exactly as intended following the team’s extensive repair and setup work after Race 1, Wagner maintained a consistent pace over the closing laps to secure Racing Panda’s second overall and Pro-Am victory of the Lotus Cup China season.
The victory marked an impressive recovery from the disappointment of Race 1, while keeping Wagner and Che firmly in contention for the 2026 Lotus Cup China Championship. It also rewarded the tremendous effort of the Racing Panda team, whose work after Saturday’s suspension failure provided the race-winning package needed to return to the top step of the podium.