Asian Motor Sports

Franz Engstler re-established himself at the top of the championship table with a commanding victory from pole position in round five of the Asian Touring Car Championship at Sentul, Indonesia.

The German had slipped behind Mike Briggs in the standings following his retirement at Goldenport, but made no mistakes on the way to a dominant win from Briggs, while the South African’s Proton team-mates Fariqe Hairuman and Mashlino Buang followed in third and fourth respectively,

Prior to the race, two new additions were made to the ATCC field in the shape of Ao Chi Hong of Macau lining up in a second BMW run by Engstler Motorsport, while Division 2 saw another BMW entered courtesy of Markus Lungstrass, albeit in place of the sidelined Andreas Klinge.

From the start, Engstler leaped into the lead, ahead of Briggs, Hairuman and Buang, the quartet remaining in their positions to the end of the race, albeit after Buang slipped down the field on lap three and was forced to fight back.

Instead, the main interest was in Division 2, with newcomer Lungstrass making a stunning debut by pulling away from the rest of the competition and hassling the Division 1 cars on the way to a dominant win.

Further back, Cheung Chi Sin was challenging Henry Ho, who has so far dominated the class this season, in a similar Honda Integra Type-R, with the duo swapping places throughout the race, likely aided by Ho’s excessive success ballast.

Meanwhile right behind them was another battle, this time between race veterans Ong and Danny Stacy Chau. On lap 8, Chau launched his car down the inside of Ong’s into turn one but Ong managed to secure his line and closed the gap on.

Relentless as ever Chau kept up the pressure on Ong, and managed to overtake when they come across some backmarkers. Chau’s success was however short lived as Ong managed to snatch his position back just two corners later, which he held to the end.

Further back in the pack was a third group of drivers battling it out, with Poon defending his 12th position from Lau and Cheng. Lau got the better of Poon on lap 9, immediately leaving Poon and Cheng to fight it out for 13th.

Cheung kept relentlessly pushing Ho, either hoping for an opening or for Ho to make a mistake. But his charges took a turn for the worse when on lap 10, Cheung came out of the second last corner too fast and spun at high speed and made contact with the wall ending his race on the spot.

Yellow flags went up to caution the drivers while marshals assisted an uninjured Cheung from his car to safety. The race continued on with Poon and Cheng switching positions all the way to the chequered flag.

At the finish, Engstler took the win for Division 1 in his Engstler Motorsport BMW 320i, with South African Briggs following in second and behind him Hairuman, Buang and Lungstrass, first in Div 2, with Ho, Ao, Danny Stacy Chau, Ong, Man, Lau, Poon and Cheng behind.
(via Crash Net)