Jason Zhang claims victory for Kia in Korea
Jason Zhang Zhi Qiang took his second win of the season in the fourth round of the 2015 China Touring Car Championship at the Korean International Circuit, leading Changan Ford’s Andy Yan by over ten seconds at the end of the race.
Zhang started from pole position after the organisers reshuffled the grid, placing the 2.0 litre turbocharged Cup class cars at the back, so Teamwork Citroën’s Alex Hui began the race in ninth position after setting the fastest time in qualifying on Saturday.
Kia’s Larry Lin Le Feng was the second fastest car in qualifying, but had a five-place grid penalty to take courtesy of a collision with Honda driver Henry Ho at the last round at the Shanghai Tianma circuit.
The first retirement of the race was Leo Yi Hong Li, with the Kia driver involved in a clash with Ford FRD driver Andy Yan at the start, spinning into the gravel.
Teamwork Citroën’s Alex Hui, the team’s only representative this weekend, was up to fourth by the end of lap one, but retired with a mechanical problem on lap three. The same fate befell the two wildcard Hyundai Genesis entries of South Korean drivers Lee Seung Woo and Lee Dong Ho who’d been added to the grid after qualifying.
While Zhang led the way, the key battle was between Andy Yan’s Ford and the Kias of Jim Ka To and Larry Lin Le Feng. Yan was defending hard against Jim’s Kia throughout the race, with the pair caught in the latter stages by Lin after Hui’s retirement, but Yan held on to take second and score key points in the championship.
Zhang Zhen Dong of Shanghai VW 333 Racing achieved his third victory in the Super Production Cup class after finishing seventh overall in th race in his Volkswagen Polo, with his team-mate Wang Rue second in class and the only other finisher in the Cup class.
Zhang’s win closes him to five points of Yan in the drivers’ championship, heading to the next round of the China Touring Car Championship at the Guangdong International Circuit on August 16th.
