Photo: TCR Asia

Pattarapol Vongprai leads Thai 1-2-3 in Bangsaen

Pattarapol Vongprai headed a 1-2-3 comprising of drivers from the TCR Thailand series in the opening race of the combined TCR Asia meeting on the streets of Bangsaen.

The Honda driver beat SEAT pair Nattanid Leewattanavaragu and Jakraphan Davee to top spot to enhance his lead in the TCR Thailand standings, with Luca Engstler moving to the head of the TCR Asia points despite being unable to build on his dominant run to pole in qualifying.

Engstler lost the lead when the race got underway after a tardy start in his Volkswagen Golf GTI, which allowed Lo Sze Ho to jump into first for the opening three laps.

Once Engstler was able to retake the lead, he started to pull away from the chasing pack behind but couldn’t extend his advantage too much before team-mate Mitchell Cheah went into the barriers and brought out the Safety Car.

On the restart, Engstler once again made a break from Lo and Pattarapol behind but as had been the case a few laps later, the Safety Car would be called out again – this time after the Honda of Chariya Nuya came to a halt on the circuit.

Before the race could resume for the final time however, Engstler was hit with a drive through penalty for an infringement at the start, meaning he was forced to come into the pits just as the race went green for what would be the final time.

With Lo running wide out of the final corner, Pattarapol moved into the lead of the race ahead of Leewattanavaragul with the pair running out front through to the chequered flag.

Lo – having dropped down to fourth – would move ahead of Davee into third before being forced to take a penalty of his own, which handed third back to Davee.

Alex Liu topped the TCR Asia racers in fourth place ahead of Kiang Kuan Wong, with Engstler rounding out the top six after his penalty.

Engstler now heads Mitchell Cheah by three points in the TCR Asia standings ahead of race two on Sunday.

Diego Moran and Ivan Szeto were unable to even take the start.