Umar Abdullah inherits first victory in TCR Asia at Buriram
Delta Garage Racing driver Umar Abdullah was gifted with his maiden TCR Asia victory at Buriram, when Z.Speed teammates and title rivals Zhang Zhen Dong and Max Hart were both handed 30 second penalties after finishing first and second in Race 2.
Hart had won the first race on Saturday ahead of his teammates Zhang and Hwang Doyun, then in a wet Sunday race the three of them delivered a battle that sometimes exceeded the limits of a fair sporting rivalry. Eventually, Abdullah who was running fourth behind them after a bad start, found himself elevated to the win.
With only one race meeting to go, Zhang continues to lead the standings by 16 points over Hart.
Race 1 – Hart had claimed the pole with a last lap of 1:44.805, demoting Zhang to second by 2.5 tenths in a session that was resumed after a red flag with three minutes to go. Before the warm-up lap, Liu Qi Ren’s Hyundai i30 was pushed to the pit lane from where it would start. Hart got away well from the pole and led, while Hwang moved ahead of Zhang in second position. During the first lap, Zhang retook second from Hwang, while Abdullah passed Jiang Nan for P4, but at the end of lap 2 he retired with a broken rear suspension. Zhang pushed to close in on Hart, and between laps 4 and 8 the gap shrank a bit, but the Irishman was able to increase his leading margin again. Hart was in control and won by 2.5 seconds over Zhang, with Hwang a close third.
Race 2 – Benny Santoso and Abdullah shared the front row of the reversed grid. At the start, under a light rain, Santoso made a decent start and Abdullah stalled, while Hwang sprinted to the lead from P4. During the first lap, Zhang and Hart who were fifth and sixth on the grid passed Santoso and Jiang Nan, climbing to second and third. At the end of lap 2, Santoso went off and the safety car was deployed to recover his Hyundai from the gravel. Racing resumed in lap 6, with Zhang and Hart overtaking Hwang. The three teammates continued fighting; Hart and Zhang made light contact and the Irishman took the lead, while Zhang dropped behind Hwang before retaking the second place in lap 7. Quickly Zhang closed the gap to the leader and passed him at the end of lap 9, just before Jiang who was chasing Hwang spun off causing another safety car period. When the green flag was waved, Hwang passed Hart for second, but Hart retook the position and resumed his fight with Zhang for the lead. They ran abreast and made contact a couple of times, which enabled Hwang to take the lead, but the Korean driver made a mistake and dropped to fourth behind Abdullah. Then, in lap 14, Hwang pitted to fix a loose bonnet and rejoined in sixth position. Up front, Zhang pulled away from Hart to win the race, with Abdullah third, but the Stewards imposed 30-second penalties to Zhang for overtaking during the safety car phase and to Hart for driving conduct.
The last event of TCR Asia will be in October in China.
Buriram – Race 1
- Max Hart (Z.Speed Motorsport, Hyundai Elantra N), 15 laps
- Zhang Zhen Dong (Z.Speed Motorsport, Hyundai Elantra N), 2.526
- Hwang Doyun (Z.Speed Motorsport, Hyundai Elantra N), 3.610
Buriram – Race 2
- Umar Abdullah (Delta Garage Racing Team, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 17 laps
- Zhang Zhen Dong (Z.Speed Motorsport, Hyundai Elantra N), 14.196
- Max Hart (Z.Speed Motorsport, Hyundai Elantra N), 20.128
Championship points
- Zhang ZD., 326 pts; 2. M. Hart, 310; 3. Hwang D., 260
Picture: TCR Asia
