Asian Touring Car Series Sepang Qualifying Report

Choi takes pole for Round 5 of the Asian Touring Car Series

Michael Choi took pole position for Round 5 of the Asian Touring Car Series on a hot evening at Sepang Circuit.

The J.A.S. Motorsport driver from Hong Kong made some set-up changes and clocked the fastest time of 2 minutes 22.669 seconds.

Choi was happy with the outcome after a difficult weekend, “The time is good and I am happy. We put new tyres on and did some settings yesterday and it was much better. The car was better and easier to handle and I will try my best for the podium”.

Choi lines up ahead of returning driver, Chen Jun San of Team AAI/Buddy Club who took second just 0.196 seconds behind. Chen was having a difficult time this weekend during the tests but was back on the pace after the team decided to return to the settings from the previous race.

He was all smiles after the Qualifying session and said “I am happy with the Qualifying time because for the last three days during the test sessions, the time was getting worse and worse.

Car #8 Michael Choi

“We had a lot of problems with the set up and when we went back to the settings from the previous race, we managed to get good times.

The ever positive driver said of the weekend so far, “we had something bad happen to us and something good happen to us” and he is hoping to end the weekend with good results.

Paul Poon of China Dragon Racing was also happy with his time despite not being able to get a proper clear lap done during the Qualifying session. “I did some good laps but I had some cars in front of me. But overall I am happy with my time”.

Poon’s main goal this weekend is to keep Kenneth Lau, who he is fighting with for the Hong Kong Touring Car Championship, behind him and to claim a minimum of second place to secure the win in their final two races of the season.

Lau will be starting just one spot behind and although was happy, he said he could do better. “It was okay. I pushed a little too hard. If I had just driven a little calmer, I would have gotten a better lap time. I just need to be stable and relaxed.”

Kuroki who clocked the seventh fastest time of the day will start the race tomorrow from the back of the grid after making an engine change.

Round 5 of the Asian Touring Car Series will be held on Sunday, 3rd July 2011 at 11.05am while Round 6 will be held later the same day at 2.15pm Malaysian time.

BY: Motorsport Asia