Difficult Yet Sucessful Weekend For Thong's LMP2 Debut With K2 Uchino Racing

2019 - 2020 Asian LeMans Series

Shanghai, China 22-24 November, 2019

Shaun Thong first outing with the current spec LMP2 generation was eventful in the opening round of the 2019 - 2020 Asian LeMans Series in Shanghai, China. Thong was confirmed to be driving with 2018 Super GT300 Class Champion Haruki Kurosawa in the Japan based K2 Uchino Racing Oreca 07 / Gibson for the full season just weeks before the season kicks off here at Shanghai.

“I am very honoured to be racing with K2 Uchino Racing and to be part a such amazing team from Japan, some people might not know but they are very well campaigned in the Super GT Series and has always been one of the benchmark for GT300 teams in the championship. running under the name of K2 Leon Racing with an AMG GT-3. This is their first time racing outside of Japan and there will be alot of challenges we are going to face together as a team, however i believe with their pedigree we can learn and gain experience quickly and adapt to the LMP2 machine.” Said Thong.

On Friday Practice Thong placed the #96 K2 Uchino Oreca 07 / Gibson on 3rd place on the team’s and his first outing. Gaining valuable data and knowledge from every sessions.

Thong was also the qualifying driver on Saturday and set the best time of 1:53:580 for 5th position, just 0.389s behind Pole Position pacer Roberto Merhi. Thong added “The car was good but we are still exploring, personally i haven’t got the chance to even see the car before this weekend so i got zero practice time in the car. Compare to other teams we are giving handicap as i know many teams started testing few months prior to this weekend. Hence i think the performance we showed in Qualifying was superb and the team did mega to provide me this car.”

The Agile Lohas World 4 Hours of Shanghai started 9:30am sharp on Sunday with Shaun Thong taking the start. With the tricky track condition Thong struggled to keep up with the leading car as tire degradation was the limiting factor on his opening stint. Teammate Haruki Kurosawa then took over the car from Thong at 5th position to tackle another double stint with 2 Hours 20 Minutues remaining on the clock. However a bad safety timing cost the #96 K2 Uchino Racing Oreca / Gibson 1 lap from the leader.

A Long safety car period means Kurosawa wasn’t able to maximise his potential behind the wheel with a maximum driving time of 1 hour 30 minutes due to his “GOLD” FIA categorisation. Thong then completed the remaining 1 hour with good pace, constantly on the of quickest car on track until fuel problem hits the car with 2 minutes remaining.

“It was hard to swallow that we didn’t finish the race as we are running 4th at the end, however i take the positives we gained from this weekend. We have learned what the car can do at the maximum and thats a learning curve for myself and the team. It has been tough this week as some parts such as springs and dampers that failed to arrive due to custom issues, and this limited our options on the car setup. However i am looking forward to bounce back for Round.2 in Australia and i believe both myself and the team has gained valuable experience and knowledge from this first outing in Shanghai.” Thong Said.

Next Asian LeMans Series race will be held in the brand new The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia, running the full 7.7km configuration for the first time.

————————————————————————————————————-

For more enquires please also contact shaun.thong@xworks.com.mx

Follow more at :

Instagram : shaunthong

Facebook : Shaun Thong 唐偉楓

Twitter : shaun_ccxr