Max Hart Wins at Sepang and leads TCR Asia Championship
max hart leads the tcr asia championship following the opening two rounds.
Having only announced this 2024 plans in the weeks leading up to the event, Max Hart did, as he had suggested, hit the ground running at the opening two rounds of the 2024 TCR Asia Championship.
Despite strong competition from his fellow Z-Speed Hyundai team mates, the Irishman claimed pole position for the opening race of the weekend at the Sepang International Circuit. When the lights went out, he matched revs to grip perfectly to lead the pack down into turn one. His team mate ZHANG Zhen Dong was right in his wheel tracks and it soon became apparent there were no Hyundai team orders as the pair battled mightily around the 5.5km Grand Prix circuit. Before half distance, Zhen Dong had fought his way past, but Max was immediately fighting back. A mid race Full Course Yelllow (FCY) allowed the pack to bunch up once again and when the green flags were waved, the Hyundai team mates had it all to do once again. Max timed it to perfection, snatching the lead at the restart, leaving Zhen Dong to fight off an attack from the third Z-Speed driver, HWANG Doyun, The trio circulated line astern for the duration but in the closing stages, it all kicked off. A lunge from Zhen Dong into the final corner resulted in contact but Max managed to just hang onto the lead as the started the penultimate lap. Another similar lunge into Turn One though, saw more contact and Max was sent wide. He fought back and the duo exited the corner and tackled the following corner door to door but ultimately, with the next corner being a long right hander, Max had to slot into second.With time running out, there was no time to mount a challenge and Max crossed the line an understandably disgruntled second.
With the grid reversed for race two the following day, Max was in determined form and, despite starting at the back, crossed the line in third at the end of the opening lap. He soon moved to second and as the race progressed, eased up towards the leader, HWANG Doyun.
A penalty for HWANG ultimately meant Max took the win, despite some further physical attention from ZHANG in the closing stages!
The series returns to the Sepang once again on June 7/8/9. They will then have two meetings at the Chang International Circuit in Thailand in August and September, before returning to China for the penultimate round at Ningbo International Speedpark. The final rounds of the series will be at the world famous Macau Grand Prix meeting on November 14/15/16/17- where Max will be hoping to repeat his 2023 victory in front of a capacity crowd!
Max Hart: "I'm delighted to be coming away from Round 1 as Championship leader. There is still work to do but we have definitely taken a step in the right direction in every way over the winter. It will be important to build on this momentum and push for more podiums come Round 2 in just 4 weeks time!"