Teamwork Motorsport took to the top step of the podium for the first time in the 2015 Hong Kong Touring Car Championship (HTCC) at Guangdong International Circuit (1-2 May).
Opening the weekend’s proceedings in Friday’s (1 May) dry qualifying, Teamwork Motorsport perfected the setup on its three Suncity Group-liveried Peugeot RCZs for its three drivers, Paul Poon, Samson Fung and Andrew Lo.
Poon immediately made an impact on the session to set a time one second quicker than the rest of the field and line-up on pole position, with Fung alongside him on the front row and Lo directly behind to complete a Teamwork Motorsport one-two-three.
Sadly, Poon stalled on the line with an ECU problem, a rival then collecting the rear of his RCZ at high speed, causing substantial damage and warranting a red flag.
At the restart, an engine belt issue for Lo saw his race come to a premature end, leaving Fung in the sole remaining Suncity Group RCZ to challenge for the team’s first HTCC win in 2015.
Fung, originally in P2, immediately took the lead and built a gap of several seconds to his rivals, setting the fastest lap of the race before light rain began to fall towards the latter end.
The inclement weather made the going tough for Fung, whose car setup was incompatible with the wet conditions, and he surrendered his lead, eventually crossing the line third and on the final step of the podium.
Disappointed not to have converted his pole position into a win, Poon said, “We had a perfect qualifying session and I was very, very confident that we could win and likely bring home a one-two-three finish today. The car stalled on the line and I was hit very hard from behind. I have bruises all over my ankles and, if it wasn’t for this incident causing the red flag, the race would have finished on time and Samson (Fung) wouldn’t have had to drive in the mixed conditions. I’m sure he could have won the race.”
In true ‘band of brothers’ fashion, the Teamwork mechanics worked all through the night to repair the extensive damage on Poon’s car, which made it out onto the grid for race two on Saturday (2 May).
With the grid determined by the results race one results, Fung would lead the Teamwork charge in third, with Poon 17th and Lo 22nd.
All three cars took off the line problem free, as Fung mounted a challenge to the front leading duo immediately, before snatching second position after one tour of the Guangdong International Circuit.
Poon and Lo wasted no time in scything their way through the field and broke into the top ten after just two laps.
On the third lap, Fung took the lead from his rival, only to be tipped into a slide, but the experienced HTCC driver kept control of his Peugeot RCZ and held the initiative.
Fung would then go on to put down two consecutive fastest laps, extending his lead to over nine seconds on the run to the chequered flag to claim Teamwork Motorsport’s first victory in 2015, despite rain again falling towards the end of the race.
Further down the order, Poon was up to fourth and with a diminishing three-second gap to bridge to the final podium spot with 11 laps remaining, before a driveshaft failure resulted in a second DNF for four-time Macau GP CTM Cup winner.
Nevertheless, Lo was there to take over from Poon in the fight for third position, but was ultimately unable to challenge for a podium finish and brought the car home in a respectable fourth.
“The team has been preparing superb cars for us and, on many occasions, we have proven our speed, yet we couldn’t convert any of that into a win, until today,” said Fung. “This is an overdue victory for the team.
“It was a superior job done by all mechanics last night to repair Paul’s (Poon) car, after seeing how heavily damaged it was. During the race, I could see in my mirrors that Paul was catching up very quickly and there was still plenty of laps remaining. Unfortunately, bad luck hit him again, otherwise I am sure he could have been on the podium with me today.”
Teamwork Motorsport will be back in action for the opening round of the SINOPEC LUBRICANTS China Touring Car Championship (CTCC) with two Citroén C-Elysees for Sunny Wong and Samuel Hsieh at China’s Guangdong International Circuit (15-17 May).
For more information on Teamwork Motorsport, please visit the www.teamworkms.com website, or ‘like’ the team’s Facebook page.