A Ferrari driver allegedly caught zooming across the Lions Gate Bridge at 150 km/h over the speed limit has pleaded guilty to excessive speeding.
Yihao Wang appeared in North Vancouver provincial court Tuesday but spoke only once, answering "yes" when the judge asked if he understood the plea.
Before he left the building, Wang put on a black surgical mask, black sunglasses and a black baseball cap, almost completely obscuring his face. He did not answer questions from reporters outside court.
Police clocked Wang going over the bridge at 210 km/h last July, more than tripling the posted speed limit of 60 km/h. He was behind the wheel of a white 2015 Ferrari 458, which was impounded for 60 days.
Wang was also handed a 16-month driving prohibition.
But rather than just hand the driver a ticket, the officer who pulled Wang over decided to press for a trial, which could lead to a higher fine and stricter penalties.
Wang, who was charged under the Motor Vehicle Act, is scheduled to be sentenced in May.
After Tuesday's hearing, the driver's defence lawyer, David Baker, said his client is "very sorry" for what he did.
"He regrets it. He's been taken off the road for 16 months, which is a very significant penalty already," Baker said. "I expect now that he's been sanctioned in this way, he'll slow down significantly."
The lawyer could not comment on why Wang was driving so quickly, or why he chose to obscure his face outside court.
"I'm not sure about that. That was his choice," Baker said.
Police said Wang's driving history could be considered during sentencing, and court records show a number of other driving and speed-related offences against a man with the same name and birth year.
In fact, just a few months before he was nabbed speeding over the Lions Gate Bridge, Wang was pulled over for excessive speeding on the same crossing.
The West Vancouver Police Department said in the earlier incident, Wang drove a 2016 Mercedes sedan across the bridge at 126 km/h.
He did not dispute the ticket, which was issued by the same officer who pulled him over in July.
Police said they only dealt with one driver who went faster than Wang in all of 2017, a 40-year-old Lamborghini Espada driver who was caught going 212 km/h on Cypress Bowl Road in August.
With files from CTV Vancouver's David Molko
Yihao Wang, the 22 y/o accused of driving 210 kmh over the Lions Gate Bridge in a Ferrari last July, just pleaded guilty. We saw his face in court, but here's what he did the minute he stepped out the front door. pic.twitter.com/QdAeaZXF7Y
— David Molko (@molkoreports) April 24, 2018