Luca Engstler again claims victory behind the safety car

Luca Engstler encored in the TCR Asia series by taking victory in race two at the Zhuhai International Circuit, leading home Liqui Moly Team Engstler team-mate Diego Moran, as the race once again ended behind the safety car.

The first lap saw reverse-grid pole-sitter Roland Hertner lead Pepe Oriola into the first corner, as Engstler fought his way up to third by the mid-point of the first tour.

German Hertner then went wide at the final corner of the lap after pressure from Oriola, allowing the Spaniard to assume the lead of the race on the first lap ahead of fellow Hyundai driver Engstler.

Oriola and Engstler fought side-by-side for much of the opening lap, but the reigning champion was able to get past just before the final corner, as the safety car was then called on lap three when Hertner was helped into the gravel, his Volkswagen becoming beeched.

Racing resumed on lap six, with light rain falling on the circuit, catching out Oriola, Martin Xie, Filipe De Souza and Dan Lloyd at Turn 11, with the latter being the only driver not to get stuck in the gravel.

With the Hyundai and Honda stuck in the gravel, the safety car was once again called at the end of lap six.

It took until lap 11 for racing to resume once more, but it only lasted for a lap as Adam Khalid, Douglas Khoo and Cherry Cheung made contact, pitching the first two hard into the barriers.

Khoo’s CUPRA appeared to make contact with Khalid’s Volkswagen, with Cheung’s Audi on the inside having nowhere to go. All three cars picked up suspension damage, and the race ended behind the safety car.

In the intervening lap, Moran had got past Teamwork Motorsport’s Alex Hui to take second, with Eurasia Motorsport’s Daniel Miranda following through to complete podium.

Hui was ultimately classified in fourth ahead of NewFaster’s Terry Huang in fifth, and Kim Jin Soo’s Hyundai in sixth.

However, Soo was later given a post-race 30-second penalty, dropping him to tenth. Kenneth Look was also penalised, dropping the Hong Kong driver from seventh to 11^th.

Gao Hua Yang was sixth in the second Eurasia car, ahead of Dongfeng Honda’s Daniel Lloyd in seventh and Leo Racing’s Lin Li in eighth.

Engstler leaves Zhuhai at the top of the championship table with 85 points, ahead of Moran on 76 and Oriola on 50.

Race result

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	1	Luca ENGSTLER		Liqui Moly Team Engstler	Hyundai i30 N TCR	13	31:25.978	1:46.836	10
2	23	Diego MORAN		Liqui Moly Team Engstler	Hyundai i30 N TCR	13	1.443	1:47.305	9
3	20	Daniel MIRANDA		Eurasia Motorsport	Hyundai i30 N TCR	13	2.039	1:49.152	6
4	11	Alex HUI Ka Tai		Teamwork Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	13	2.844	1:46.469	3
5	81	Terry HUANG Chu Han		Liqui Moly Team NewFaster	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	13	4.267	1:49.526	12
6	30	GAO Hua Yang		Eurasia Motorsport	Hyundai i30 N TCR	13	7.294	1:49.102	16
7	77	Daniel LLOYD		Dongfeng Honda MacPro Racing Team	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	13	8.692	1:46.810	8
8	99	Lin LI		Leo Racing Volkswagen Team Oettinger	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	13	9.533	1:49.722	14
9	33	Alex LIU Lic Ka		Liqui Moly Team NewFaster	CUPRA TCR	13	10.753	1:48.466	15
10	97	KIM Jin Soo		Solite Indigo Racing	Hyundai i30 N TCR	13	34.789	1:48.899	13
11	88	Kenneth LOOK		Liqui Moly Team NewFaster	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	13	36.969	1:49.163	1
R	4	Adam KHALID		Volkswagen Team Oettinger	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	10	DNF	1:48.856	4
R	65	Douglas KHOO Kok Hui		Viper Niza Racing	CUPRA TCR	10	DNF	1:48.756	17
R	10	Cherry CHEUNG		Teamwork Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	10	DNF	1:49.203	18
R	74	Pepe ORIOLA		Solite Indigo Racing	Hyundai i30 N TCR	5	DNF	1:47.350	5
R	55	Martin XIE		Dongfeng Honda MacPro Racing Team	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	5	DNF	1:46.212	11
R	26	Filipe Clemente DE SOUZA		T.A Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	5	DNF	1:48.890	7
R	3	Roland HERTNER		Volkswagen Team Oettinger	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	1	DNF	1:53.058	2