STUNNING VICTORY FOR HO-PIN TUNG AND JACKIE CHAN DC RACING
JACKIE CHAN DC RACING X JOTA SPORT took a dominant 1-2 finish in LMP2 class at the 6 Hours of Silverstone, with #Fortunecat37 and #Mighty38 both in the hunt for the championship after the third round of 2018-19 World Endurance Championship.
Ho-Pin Tung, Stephane Richelmi and Gabriel Aubry, sharing the car #Mighty38 scored the first victory for the Chinese team in the Super Season, while Jazeman Jaafar, Nabil Jeffri and Weiron Tan in the sister car #Fortunecat37 finished in second place, two laps ahead of title rival Signatech Alpine Matmut’s #36.
The team smashed rivals in qualifying and blocked out the first row on the starting grid in LMP2 class. Despite interruption by the drama in the opening lap, it soon became clear the battle for the victory at the famous British circuit was set to be between the two China-flagged cars.
Successfully recovering from a drive through penalty for jump start at the early stage, the #Mighty38 trio put high pressure on their teammates in the #Fortunecat37, who unfortunately encountered a tyre puncture after starting the race from pole position, before the safety car made the field tight, with half-distance approaching.
In the fifth hour of the race, #Mighty38 took the lead when Aubry was behind the wheel, taking the advantage over Jeffri in the #Fortunecat37 who was caught in the Full Course Yellow period on his out lap following a scheduled pit service.
The closing stage witnessed a thrilling chasing game, as Jaafar closed the gap to Tung to only a second, chasing for the maiden win for the first-ever full-Malaysian line-up in WEC history. However, the Chinese driver managed to take the chequered flag ahead of his teammate, winning the race at Silverstone for the second successive year.
As the clouds dispersed and the sun appeared at Silverstone, Jackie Chan DC Racing enjoyed the exiting victory at the home race for JOTA Sport. More importantly, the strong performance throughout the weekend proved every effort made after Le Mans has been on the right track and will definitely boost the team as the championship fight continues at Fuji, 12-14 October.
Ho-Pin Tung, driver of #Mighty38, Jackie Chan DC Racing X JOTA Sport
It was really a great result for the team. The start didn’t go as we planned but we played catch-up and recovered very well because our pace was very good. After a difficult Le Mans, we have been pushing hard to catch up the field. The turn-around here at Silverstone was phenomenal, with the pace of both cars being incredible. And I really enjoyed the fight with Jazeman at the final hour. So I am very very happy.
