Ho-Pin Tung took his maiden Porsche Carrera Cup Asia victory in an incident-filled race at the all-new Korean motorsport circuit, Inje Speedium International Circuit.
Tung started on the third row of the grid, and avoided multiple dramas ahead of him to pick his way through the pack and take the win. Tung led home Team C&D’s Jason Zhang Zhigiang, who took a season-best second place, and Team Jebsen’s Rodolfo Avila of Macau.
“As they say, ‘you must first finish to finish first’, and I’m happy to have made it to the line,” said a visibly delighted Tung. “I was hit from behind, in the side, had a damaged rear tyre…it was a very active race! I was a bit unlucky in Shanghai and Malaysia, so it’s good to be lucky here in Korea.
“On this track, it’s quite difficult to overtake, and many of the drivers were quite aggressive on the opening lap, trying to gain position, but in the final two laps everything settled down a bit. I had a good start and run into Turn 1. That was quite tight, but most got through, but that’s when the carnage started.”
Tung didn’t take the chequered flag, however, as it was in fact Team Eagle’s Martin Ragginger who crossed the line first, but a thirty second time penalty for a false start saw his victory taken away from him.
Class B victory went to Egidio Perfetti, who finished fourth overall, joined on the B class podium by by Alif Hamdan and Yeuy Tan.
“It is a new track, so I had to be a bit careful in the beginning,” said Perfetti. “I made progress all the way through the race and found some pace. I like the track and am getting more comfortable on it. I have saved a new set of tyres for the next race, and have my eyes set on a couple of cars in front…”
