ATCS - Kano Takes Morning Win While Kajohnsak Takes Season Ender Win

Masaki Kano takes his second win of the season during the penultimate race of the Asian Touring Car Series 2008 season. The Japanese driver climbed up the ranks from the reverse grid order to finish the race in 23:21.057, ahead of Eric Yeo and Man Ting Yu.

The stage was set for a dramatic race with the reverse grid order leaving Adrian Henry D’Silva taking pole next to Man Ting Yu at the start of the race. D’Silva got off the line well to lead the race for the first lap before being overtaken by Yeo and Man and was chased by the fast climbing Kano. Lap by lap Kano began to make his way past Man and then Yeo to take the lead by lap 3. From there the Liqui Moly Team Engstler driver did not look back and kept up a blistering pace all the way to the chequered flag.

“I started in sixth and tried to take one driver by one driver. I took my time because it is a 20-lap race so I had plenty of time to make my move. I did slow my pace a little towards the middle of the race just to maintain my pace and the race lead”.

Behind him the drama unfolded when fifth placed starter, Kajohnsak Na Songkla overtook Danny Stacy Chau and Man Ting Yu before he began to put pressure on D’Silva and Yeo at the start. But Kajohnsak made a mistake and spun off the track only to rejoin the race at the end of the pack. This left Yeo up in second while Man managing to maintain his third place from lap 5 onwards.

“I had a good start in front of Man Ting Yu. Then when I looked back I saw Kajohnsak who was on my back for most of the way. After that I managed to open up a gap to Man and maintained that gap all the way to the chequered flag”.

Towards the end of the race, Man was pressured by his Team IMSP teammate, Danny Chau, who managed to climb back up to fourth after a tense battle with Akekaluk Ditjareoan.

It was a good clean start to the second and final race of the season where local up and coming touring car driver, Kajohnsak Na Songkla took the win in front of his home supporters, ahead of Adrian Henry D’Silva and Danny Stacy Chau.

Kajohnsak had a brilliant start climbing up to second from third early on in the race. Then he managed to avoid the incident between Eric Yeo and Danny Chau to claim the lead. He then managed to stay clean all the way, keeping up a good strong pace all the way to the chequered flag.

“I started in third and got up to second fairly easily, then I just drover around taking care of my car for the first few laps before I was passed again dropping me down to third. After that, I thought I’d take it easy, it was a long race. Then there was the accident, and after that it was a smooth and easy race.

Behind him, there was a battle for second with D’Silva, Man Ting Yu and Danny Chau. The trio changed positions throughout much of the race where in the end, D’Silva took second ahead of Danny Chau while Man finished third ahead of Frank Yee, Ao Chi Hong, Eric Yeo, Lai Kit Man and Lei Chong Seng.

“At the start, I just followed the crowd. Then the two cars in front of me spun. Then Eric had a drive through penalty, leaving it just between me and Man Ting Yu fighting. After that I just took Man and of course I also had pressure from Danny as well.

“The three of us changed positions several times and in the end I managed to hold through right to the end to finish second” said D’Silva during the post race press conference.

Prepared by Motorsport Asia Limited