Photo: TCR Media

Sophomore TCR Asia series season starts this weekend in South Korea

The second season of the TCR Asia series gets underway this weekend at the Korea International Circuit in South Korea.

Michael Choi won the title in the series’ first season in a Honda Civic TCR, in a season where putting together a full campaign was a struggle for most competitors, but a more structured charge is set for 2016, with programmes fielded by top touring car operations such as Teamwork Motorsport, Liqui Moly Team Engstler and Team Thailand.

Team Thailand is fielding a car for Tin Sritrai, who drove both in TCR Asia as well as the World Touring Car Championship last season, fielding a Honda Civic TCR for the Thai driver, while Champ Motorsport will also field a pair of Civic TCRs for China Touring Car Championship front-runner Henry Ho and his team-mate Michael Ho.

Engstler Motorsport have Andy Yan, the four-time CTCC champion on their side, as well as Macanese racer Filipe de Souza, competing in a pair of their Volkswagen Golf GTI TCRs.

Teamwork Motorsport, who field the privateer Citroën programme in CTCC, will run a pair of Volkswagen Golfs of Kevin Tse and American driver Bill O’Brien.

The third and final brand on the grid for the start of the season is SEAT, with Douglas Khoo racing for Viper Niza Racing in a SEAT León TCR, while Roadstar Racing will field a pair of León Cup Racers for Terence Tse and Kam Cheong Yu.

Later in the season, FRD Sport are expected to field their redesigned Ford Focus ST, with the CTCC championship winning squad taking over the development of the Ford programme, while Korean driver Roelof Choe Albert Bruins is fielded as a wild card entry this weekend by Viper Niza Racing.

TCR Asia Series – Korea Entry List

No – Driver – Team – Car
1 – Roelof Choe Albert Bruins – Viper Niza Racing – SEAT León Cup Racer
3 – Andy Yan – Engstler Motorsport – Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR
7 – William O’Brien – Teamwork Motorsport – Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR
8 – Kevin Tse – Teamwork Motorsport – Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR
9 – Tin Sritrai – Team Thailand – Honda Civic TCR
17 – Terence Tse – Roadstar Racing – SEAT León Cup Racer
22 – Yu Kam Cheong – Roadstar Racing – SEAT León Cup Racer
26 – Filipe de Souza – Engstler Motorsport – Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR
38 – Michael Ho – Champ Motorsport – Honda Civic TCR
65 – Douglas Khoo – Viper Niza Racing – SEAT León TCR
88 – Henry Ho – Champ Motorsport – Honda Civic TCR

TCR Asia Series – Korea Timetable

Friday 13th May
09:00 – Test 1
12:10 – Test 2
15:30 – Test 3

Saturday 14th May
08:30 – Practice 1
11:20 – Practice 2
14:15 – Qualifying

Sunday 15th May
12:50 – Race 1
17:15 – Race 2