Asia On-road Champs Rd4 – Qualifying & A1 recap

With open practice and seeding over at the fourth round of the Asia On-road Championship, the tension was starting to rise like a hot air balloon here in Hong Kong. The wait was over and Saturday finally came and went. With four rounds of qualifying and the decision to go ahead and run one round of the triple A-mains was a crucial call as the surrounding area near Tom Racing Circuit saw flash floods later in the evening. Setup, tire strategy, and rain was the hot buzz in the pits as all drivers were pushing maximum to get the best results possible.

In the Modified Sedan class, fast, smooth, and consistent Volker was able to secure the overall TQ by doing the impossible and complete the perfect sweep, but only by the smallest of margins. Newly crowned European champion, Xray’s Alexander Hagberg was charging hard in every round only to find himself down by a mere tenth in rounds 1 and 2. Hagberg would have to settle for 2nd on the grid while Singapore’s Nicholas Lee would follow closely behind with his best rounds of a 2 and a 3 to start him 3rd on the grid. Yokomo’s Meen Vejrak was also in the hunt with a near win in round 4, but just missing the win Meen would have to settle for 4th instead of a possible 2nd position in the mains.

In the 13.5 Boosted Sedan class it was Leespeed’s own Ian Lee taking TQ honors over Yokomo’s Araya and local hero P. Boy. Ian Lee was able to take wins in rounds 1 and 3 to secure him the overall TQ spot while Araya was able to win rounds 2 and the final round would go to P. Boy securing his 3rd spot on the grid.

The 17.5 Blinky Sedan class saw F.C. Wu win three of four rounds of qualifying to earn the overall TQ in the mains. Sven Boehringer had an early win in round 1 and with two more 2nd place finishes in qualifying, Boehringer would start 2nd. Ken Li would find himself 3rd on the grid with a 2nd and a 3rd place finish in quals.

With qualifying wrapped up, race director Scotty Ernst thought it was best to run 1 round of mains on Saturday because of the weather forecast of rain that was slated for Sunday. A1 of Mod Sedan was a thriller as all the drivers finally were able to battle it out on the track and decide who is fastest in this ultimate showdown. From the tone, Yokomo’s Volker pushed extremely hard early on and built a comfortable gap on the very first lap. Slowly through the race, Xray’s Hagberg slowly started to chip away at Volker’s 1 second lead. With a minute to go, Hagberg’s car finally came in and started to close the gap and contest for the lead. On the last lap Hagberg gave it a shot and sent it in on Volker, but the result unsuccessful. The two would touch causing Volker to spin, but doing the right thing Hagberg gave the position back and the rest was history. A1 goes to Volker with Hagberg in 2nd and Nicholas Lee in 3rd.

13.5 Boosted Sedan didn’t go according to plan for TQ Ian Lee. An early first lap roll-over on the fourth turn gave the lead to 2nd place qualifier, Yokomo’s Araya. Lee would charge back to contest make the pass on Araya in the sweeper, but was short lived as Lee would make another mistake and fall back in the field. Making the call to save his tires, Lee would pull his car. Uncontested, Araya would take the win in A1 with Yeung Wai Ho and Michael Cheung finishing the top 3.

17.5 Sedan saw FC Wu gifted a huge lead as the rest of the pack would battle like wolves on the first lap. Over the course of five minutes, 2nd place qualifier Sven Boehringer would close down Wu’s straightaway lead and contest in the final laps. In the end, Wu would cross the line first and take the win with Boehringer in 2nd and Ken Li in 3rd.

Thanks to Thomas Tran for the report.