Luca Engstler wins red-flagged Race 1 at Sepang
Luca Engstler continued his winning streak in the TCR Malaysia Touring Car Championship, winning the third race of the season at the Sepang International Circuit, in a race which was red-flagged after seven laps.
The Engstler Hyundai driver led from pole position at the start, while his Volkswagen team-mate Kai Jordan was quickly up ahead of Paul Ip’s KCMG Honda Civic TCR into second place.
There was some trouble for the Engstler squad however, whose second Hyundai, this weekend being driven by Hong Kong driver Michael Soong, failed to make the start.
Luca Engstler was building up a lead rapidly, but the wet conditions eventually became too dangerous, combined with the night, with the safety car deployed on lap five, with the race aborted three laps later, confirming Engstler as the winner.
Jordan and Ip completed the podium, with Martin Ryba fourth in the Brutal Fish Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR, while Brendan Paul Anthony was the best-placed of the local drivers, going from tenth to fifth in his Engstler Motorsport Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR.
With the race red-flagged at two-thirds distance, half points have been awarded, which means Engstler now leads the championship by 34.5 points over team-mate Jordan, and could theoretically secure the title in the next race, but only if Jordan fails to finish and Engstler wins the race.
The second race of the weekend is scheduled to start at 20:30 MYT (13:30 CET), with Martin Ryba’s Volkswagen on pole position.
