Diego Moran wins Race 2 at Sepang as Thai pair collide

Diego Moran won the second race of the day at the Sepang International Circuit for Engstler Motorsport, while behind him the Ecuadorian saw Volkswagen rivals Tin Sritrai and team-mate Kantadhee Kusiri come together twice during the opening laps.

The two Phoenix Asia Audi RS 3s of Tong Siu Kau and Jasper Thong started on the front row courtesy of the top five reversed grid, but Thong bogged down at the start, with Diego Moran getting the jump from fourth on the grid, catapulting into the lead in his Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR.

Team Thailand’s Tin Sritrai followed him through into second down the inside of Tong’s RS 3 into Turn 1, with the Hong Kong driver quickly dropping down the order to be seventh by the end of the first lap.

Race 1 winner Kantadhee Kusiri was now up to third in the second of the Engstler Volkswagens, with the two R Engineering Hondas of Lai Wee Sing and Abdul Kaathir just behind him.

While Moran led the way, Sritrai found himself harried by Kusiri’s Volkswagen for second position, with the Thai driver proving to be very aggressive when running in traffic after a perfect display from pole in the first race.

Kusiri made contact with the rear of Sritrai’s car at Turn 14 with no drama for either driver, but a lap later Kusiri made a lunge down the inside of Sritrai at the Turn 15 hairpin, and was launched down the escape road with damage as his countryman turned in as he tried to make the corner.

Kusiri returned to the pits with damage, with the Engstler team repairing his car and getting him back on track within two laps, allowing him to take the finish. Unfortunately for Kusiri, with no further retirements from the race after Eric Kwong didn’t make the start following his Race 1 incident, the Thai driver would be classified in ninth and last.

Moran soon found himself under attack from Sritrai during the final laps of the race, but the Ecuadorian driver was able to hold off the 27-year-old Thai to win the second race of the day at Sepang by a margin of just nine-tenths of a second.

“I had a very good start and then I was pushing every lap to try to make the difference,” said Moran. “The guys were fighting very hard, and after that I was pushing and the tyres were losing grip.”

Moran now leads the drivers’ championship on 47 points ahead of Sritrai by 11 points, with Kusiri six points further behind.

The next round of the TCR Asia Series takes place at the Zhuhai International Circuit in China on April 23rd.