One of the standout performers of the opening round of the TCR Asia Series in Malaysia, was without question the Ford Focus TCR from the FRD HK Racing Team, with Hong Kong’s Andy Yan turning in some outstanding drives, albeit for such a short period before an intermittent electrical issue forced his retirement in all three races.
Whilst the team were unable to record a finish as a result of the ongoing problem, they showed in every race that the performance of the Onyx-built car is more than a match for the series front-runners, something team boss Kenneth Ma hopes remains true in Singapore.
“Since Malaysia we have been right through the car ahead of Singapore and believe we’ve found the problem that stopped us in Sepang,”Ma explained. “It was frustrating to know we had the pace to put Andy at the front, but were unable to keep the car running for the full length of the three races. In part it was because of the late arrival of the car, but we made the decision to run because it gave us valuable track time, and showed us where we were against our competition.”
Unfortunately for Ma who was scheduled to campaign their own FRD Motorsports built car, their second engine didn’t arrive in time from the UK, so they were forced to campaign just the one car, with Ma focusing on the team, a team which has won seven of the last nine China Touring Car Championship titles.
“As a driver it was tough standing on the sidelines, but it was also important to get the most out of the car, even with the challenges. This weekend though I’ll step into the driver’s role for Singapore, taking over the car Andy drove so brilliantly in Sepang as he unfortunately has commitments elsewhere this weekend. The new car that FRD have built is in Malaysia still, and the team are finalising the installation of the engine and sorting any potential issues before we ship the car to Thailand and Macau for the final two rounds of the year. I’m looking forward to joining the TCR program at Singapore - one of Asia’s most exciting venues - against the top TCR drivers in the world, it’s going to be a fantastic weekend!”
