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Tung joins KCMG Honda team for Super Taikyu assault

Le Mans 24 Hours class winner Ho-Pin Tung will return to international motorsport this season as part of KCMG's assault on Japan's Super Taikyu series.

#37 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca 07: Ho-Pin Tung

Tung, who was part of the JOTA-run Jackie Chan DC Racing effort that won the LMP2 class at Le Mans in 2017, has been out of action since the end of the COVID-19-affected 2019/20 FIA World Endurance Championship season.

But now the 40-year-old Dutch-Chinese driver will return to action with Hong Kong squad KCMG, which is entering a Honda NSX GT3 Evo2 in Super Taikyu's top ST-X class for the first time.

He'll share the car with team owner Paul Ip and Marchy Lee, while Edoardo Liberati joins the team as a fourth driver for May's blue riband Fuji 24 Hours.

“With the world fully opened up again, it’s a pleasure to return to racing with KCMG in Super Taikyu Series," said Tung. "We made our 24 Hours of Le Mans debuts together in 2013 and a decade later we re-unite for this new challenge!

"I’m looking forward to teaming up with Paul and Marchy, and with a strong team behind us we’re aiming to add some more trophies to our cabinets.”

KCMG had intended to enter the top class of Super Taikyu in 2020 with a Honda NSX, with Ip, Liberati, Josh Burdon and current Honda SUPER GT driver Hiroki Otsu named as drivers, but withdrew because of Japan's strict travel restrictions amid the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The team represented Hong Kong in last October's FIA Motоrsport Games, with Ip and Lee sharing the Honda, and had hoped to contest the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January but failed to secure an entry.

 

Photo by: SRO / Kevin Pecks

KCMG's Honda will be one of eight GT3 cars running in the top ST-X class of Super Taikyu this season.

Helm Motorsports returns to defend its title, and will be one of three teams running Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3s, alongside Team 5Zigen, which steps up from the ST-Z class, and GTNET Motor Sports.

Rookie Racing, the team owned by soon-to-step down Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda, is entering a Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the ST-Z class alongside its hydrogen-powered Toyota Corolla and its Toyota GR86 running on carbon neutral fuel.

The TKRI squad is likewise back with its Mercedes, while the ST-X field is completed by apr's Lexus RC F GT3 and an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 entered by D'station Racing.

Two brand-new Nissan Z GT4s appear on the entry for the ST-Z class. One of these will be run by reigning SUPER GT champion squad Team Impul, with Kazuki Hiramine and Kazuki Hoshino part of the driver line-up, while the other is entered by Team ZeroOne.

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