Eric Yeo is fastest local at Sepang Asian touring Car Championship
AFOS AT SEPANG
ERIC YEO SHINES IN ASIAN TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP AT SEPANG
German’s Franz Engstler ruled the opening round of the Asian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) by winning both Race 1 and Race 2 at Asian Festival of Speed in Sepang today to take firm control of Asia’s most prestigious racing series.
Driving a BMW 3201, Engstler blasted from the top of the grid to lead the race from start to finish around the fast 2.706-km Sepang Circuit North Track and immediately announced himself as firm favourite for the overall title for the premier Division 1 for FIA Super 2000 cars.
A seasoned driver with the German Formula 3 and German Touring Car crowns as titles under his belt, Engstler showed superb concentration and patience after Race 1 was forced to have a fresh rolling re-start behind the pace car after Mashlino Buang of Team Petronas Syntium Proton (PSP) had a suspension failure at Turn 1 and stalled.
Team PSP pride was, however, restored after Mohd Fariqe Hairuman took second place in both Race 1 and 2 in the Proton Impian; and showed a lot of potential to progress as the main contender to Engstler’s title challenge in the 13-round championship.
Local driver Eric Yeo performed magnificently to finish top in Division 2 for the 2000cc production cars when he finished third and fifth overall and now faces a dilemma pertaining to his future participation in the series.
“When we started today, it was just to try out and test our capabilities. Now, looking at our performance today, it makes a lot of sense to run in the whole championship, but that will require a lot of money and sponsorship.”
“We will now immediately start looking for sponsors to allow us to compete in the whole championship, which was actually not in our initial plans,” says Eric, who uses the same Honda Civic EP3 in the Malaysian Super Series Championship in the Supersaloon Championship.
The ATCC, which is run along with selected rounds of the Formula BMW Asia and Porsche Infineon Carrera Cup as part of Asian Festival of Speed, travels to China, South Korea, Thailand and Macau.
The series will next move to Bira, Thailand on June 12 for Round 3 and 4 of the ATCC; and Round 4 and 5 for the Porsche Infineon Carrera Cup as well as the fifth and sixth round of the Formula BMW Asia.
At a special ceremony earlier at the circuit, Motorsport Asia Limited formalized an agreement with 8TV to appoint the private television station as the Host Broadcaster of the event. Under the agreement, 8TV screen a 30-minute highlight for each of the rounds.
Overall Results
ASIAN TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHP
Race 1 (19 laps)
1. Franz Engstler (BMW320i) 36:03.552
2. Mohd Fariqe (Proton Impian) 36:14.322
3. Eric Yeo (Honda Civic) 37:05.303
4. Rueben Wong (Honda Integra) 37:13.071
5. Lo Ka Chun (Honda Integra) 37:13.933
Race 2 (20 laps)
Overall Results
Race 1 (20 laps)
1. Franz Engstler (BMW320i) 24:19.006
2. Mohd Fariqe (Proton Impian) 24:21.702
3. R.S. Prutirat (BMW 320i) 24:51.369
4. Ao Chi Hong (Honda Integra) 25:13.586
5. Eric Yeo (Honda Civic) 1 lap behind
