Photo: TCR Asia

Andy Yan makes it four wins in a row as Honda challenge collapses

Andy Yan took his fourth consecutive win in the TCR Asia Series championship in Race 2 in Shanghai, going from sixth to first, while mechanical issues sidelined his championship rivals Henry Ho and Tin Sritrai.

The race was already down another car before the start after Champ Motorsport’s Michael Ho was excluded from Race 1 due to an incident in parc ferme, with the Honda driver not taking part in Race 2.

Terence Tse started from pole position in the Roadstar Racing SEAT, while Race 1 winner Yan started sixth in his Engstler Motorsport Volkswagen with pole-sitter Tin Sritrai’s Honda starting seventh.

Viper Niza Racing’s Douglas Khoo made an obvious jump start seconds before the lights went out from last on the grid, while Terence Tse had a good launch from pole as Sritrai and Yan were also quickly moving through the pack.

Filipe de Souza overtook Terence Tse’s SEAT for the lead at Turn 6, who quickly dropped behind the leading cars, with Sritrai now up to second in the Honda.

Sritrai then overtook de Souza for the lead at Turn 13 with Andy Yan hot on his tail. Yan completed the pass on his team-mate for second at the end of the back straight at Turn 14 with the two Race 1 leaders ready to resume their duel.

Champ’s Henry Ho pulled into the pits to retire at the end of lap two, while it was about to get worse for the Japanese brand, as race leader Tin Sritrai then jinked left at Turn 3 at the start of lap four, allowing Yan through, with Sritrai’s problem soon clear as a mechanical issue.

The Thai driver would hang on for two laps before pitting after having dropped down the order.

Yan now had a clear path to victory as he went on to build a strong lead over Teamwork’s Kevin Tse, with Filipe de Souza taking the final spot on the podium.

Terence Tse had to fight off Son Veng Racing’s Neric Wei Chaoyin for fourth during the last half of the race, with Neric making his move at Turn 6 on the penultimate lap. Tse locked up and missing the corner, but with Neric also running off at Turn 7, the position was soon returned.

A lap later, and Tse locked up again at the same corner, this time Neric made the move stick, with Tse forced to settle for fifth.

Bill O’Brien finished sixth for Teamwork Motorsport with Douglas Khoo last on the road in the Viper Niza Racing SEAT a lap down after a penalty for his jump start.

Yan’s win now means he leads the championship by 67 points over Kevin Tse, who now moves up to second in the standings with four races remaining, with Henry Ho now third, 78 points behind Yan.

The next round of the championship takes place at the Zhejiang circuit in China on October 23rd before the season finale at Macau in November.