Junui Park and Chang Chien Shang share wins in Inje
The TCR Asia event at Inje Speedium in South Korea, had two faces. On their first appearance in the series, Solite Indigo Racing’s Junui and Junesung Park dominated a rather dull Saturday race. The second race was completely different, offering some thrilling battles for the positions that eventually proved to be for the victory, once the Race Control gave notice of the penalty inflicted to Diego Moran.
This put Sean Chang Chien Shang in the position of scoring his third win of the season and stretching his leadership in the standings to 49 points over Benny Santoso.
Race 1 – Junui Park had set pole position, beating Junesung Park by less than one tenth. At the start the pair sprinted ahead of Zhang Zhen Dong who soon lost contact. The Chinese driver’s Hyundai Elantra began to lose pace, and Zhang was soon joined by Santoso and Chang who were fighting for P4. In lap they both managed to overtake him advancing to third and fourth.
Up front, Junesung put a lot of pressure on Junui who managed to hold on to the lead and won by 0.344 seconds. Behind them, Chang eventually overtook Santoso for P3.
Race 2 – Santoso and Chang filled the front row, but at the start Moran jumped into the lead from P3 on the grid, with Zhang and Santoso following him. Soon the Parks overtook Santoso and closed in on Zhang. For a few laps Junui Park put a lot of pressure on Zhang who did not open a gap, then the Korean let his teammate Junesung pass and him eventually managed to pass Zhang in lap 7. Not much later, Zhang lost pace and retired, while Moran was notified that he would get a penalty for jump start. Behind him, there was a thrilling battle between the Parks, Santoso and Chang that was now for the lead. Junesung lost speed, Junui hit Santoso and sent him off, Chang benefitted from the situation and during the last lap passed Junui and crossed the finish line behind Moran.
Moran and Junui Park were given 15-second penalties for false start and for the incident with Santoso, so they dropped to fourth and fifth, while Santoso and Junesung Park were promoted to second and third.
The series will return to the Inje Speedium to join the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour grid on October 17/19.
Race 1
- Junui Park (Solite Indigo Racing, Hyundai Elantra N), 14 laps
- Junesung Park (Solite Indigo Racing, Hyundai Elantra N), 0.344
- Sean Chang Chien Shang (RevX Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS), 16.800
Race 2
- Sean Chang Chien Shang (RevX Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS), 14 laps
- Benny Santoso (Z.Speed Community, Hyundai Elantra N), 3.518
- Junesung Park (Solite Indigo Racing, Hyundai Elantra N), 5.754
Championship points
- Chang C.S., 203 pts; 2. B. Santoso, 154; 3. D. Moran, 146
Picture: TCR Asia
