ATCC: Bira round six race notes

San wins from pole, Sawa on top in Division 2

Chen Jun San of Taiwan led from pole to flag to clinch Division 1 victory in Round 6 of the Asian Touring Car Series today at Thailand's Bira Circuit..

At the start, almost nothing separated Chen in his Toyota Altezza from Seijiro Sawa in a Honda Civic EK9. However from lap 3, Chen increased his lead and despite Sawa closing in the later stages of the 20-lap race, he comfortably took the chequered flag with a race time of 23:26.760.

"Considering what happened to me yesterday this is a great result for me," said Chen. "I have to thank my team for doing such a great job fixing the damage from yesterday and the car felt very good today," he added.

Local favourite Jakthong Navasoopanich delighted the Thai crowd with an excellent 2nd place finish in Division 1. Jakthong, who started in 6th place, had to withstand huge pressure from Hong Kong's Lo Ka Chun and fellow Thai Kirakiat Yenmanoj before clinching his place on the podium.

Naoya Yamano was unable to take the start due to damage sustained to his Honda Integra DC5 in yesterday's accident,

Sawa took victory In Division 2, followed by Apathorn Karnaputa in a Honda Civic EK9. Danny Stacy Chau of Team IMSP completed a satisfactory weekend in third.

"Today's race wasn't as exciting as yesterday's as I was driving a lonely race most of the time", said Sawa. "But I'm delighted that I finished the race, let alone taking a place on the podium." He added.

Chau was also pleased with his performance today. "I had a bad start thus giving the others the opportunity to overtake at first. That said, I had a good time giving them a chase and overtaking them eventually," says Danny Stacy Chau. "Not bad for an old man!" he joked.

The Asian Touring Car Series continues next month with Rounds 7 and 8 at Korea's Taebaek Circuit on August 23 and 24. <pre> Results, Round 6

Division 1

No. Name                         Car                    Team             Time
1.  CHEN Jun San (TWN)           Toyota Altezza         CPC-AAI          23:26.760
2.  Jakthong NAVASOOPANICH (THA) Toyota Altezza         Team Soopanava   23:47.203
3.  LO Ka Chun (HKG)             Honda Integra DC2      778 Autosport    23:52.276
4.  Gary SHAM (HKG)              Honda Integra DC2      3 Crowns Racing  4 Laps
5.  *Kirakiat YENMANOJ (THA)     Toyota Altezza         3 Crowns Racing  23:45.532
6.  *Phillip YAU (HKG)           Honda Integra DC5      Team IMSP        23:57.322

Division 2

No. Name                         Car                    Team               Time
1.  SAWA Seijiro (JPN)           Honda Civic EK9        Select RacingTeam  23:29.944
2.  Apathorn KARNAPUTA (THA)     Honda Civic EK9        Privateer          23:33.038
3.  Danny Stacy CHAU (HKG)       Honda Civic EG6        Team IMSP          24:19.618
4.  Junichi KOIZUMI (JPN)        Honda Civic EK9        Ao's Racing        24:23.760
5.  Shunei KAWASAKI              Honda Civic EK4        Ao's Racing        17:38.046
6.  LO Hung Pui (HKG)            Honda Civic EK4        778 Autosport      18 Laps

*Did not pass post race scrutineering

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