The 2016 TCR Asia Series has revealed that they will join the TCR International Series for their penultimate round of the season, the successful regional Touring Car championship joining the program for the Malaysian Formula One Grand Prix at Sepang International Circuit in early October (1-2).
The change in venue comes about after a delay in the completion of the Zhejiang Circuit in China, the originally scheduled destination for the fourth event of the season on 21-23 October.
“Unfortunately the Zhejiang Circuit despite all assurances throughout the year, has suffered a setback with their completion date and will not be ready for action until later in the season,” David Sonenscher the CEO of organizer WSC Asia Limited explained.
“The perfect venue for the Series to find a replacement date was Sepang, as it gave us an opportunity to combine both the Asian and International Series once more, and as a venue, many of the TCR Asia Series teams are based in Sepang, so it was the perfect choice.”
Sepang is arguably the birthplace of the TCR Asia Series, with the opening event of the first regional championship coming at Sepang in September 2015, an event which saw some fantastic tight racing, something which has since become a hallmark of TCR racing.
“We’re proud to be back in Malaysia, which is where it all began for TCR Asia, and pleased to be able to run again with the International Series, and I think – just as they did at Thailand and Macau last year – the International Series guys will get a big surprise by the pace of our front-running teams.”
Currently Liqui Moly Team Engstler’s Andy Yan is on a dream run in the Asian Series, the Hong Kong-based Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR driver has won the last four races in succession (Buriram and Shanghai), but he has come under fire on almost every occasion from Team Thailand’s Tin Sritrai who has suffered a litany of technical issues in recent rounds, despite showing pace capable of matching his rival.
