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Asian Touring Car Series

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Asian Touring Car Series
CategoryTouring cars
CountryEast Asia
Inaugural season2000
Drivers' championChinese Taipei Jun San Chen
Teams' championTeam AAI - Buddy Club
Official websiteafos.com

The Asian Touring Car Series (ATCS) is a touring car racing series that takes place each year across several Asian nations. It includes events at circuits in Malaysia, China and Indonesia. It ran as the Asian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) between 2000-2001, and 2005-2006.

The championship consists of three classes. Division 1 uses cars built to Super 2000 or BTC Touring regulations. Proton provides the only factory team, whose main opposition is the independent German BMW team of Engstler Motorsport. Division 2 uses Super Production regulations for cars with engine capacities of not more than 2000cc. Engstler Motorsport has a single entry in this class and is the main competition to the four-car line-up of DTM Bel’Air Racing from Hong Kong. Division 3 is a 1600cc class and is the most production-based of the three. Only DTM Bel’Air Racing fielded entries in this class during 2006.

2000 Super Production Era

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In 2000, the ATCC moved from Super Touring to Super Production regulations. Reigning champion Charles Kwan, with his teammate Paul Chan and EKS Motorsports entered two BMW 320i to defend his title. Rival Henry Lee Junior joined WK Longman Racing to fight for the championship. Charles famously won the race at Shah Alam from the very back of the grid that year, but his car broke down in Zhuhai and Macau, allowing Henry Lee Junior to win.

In 2001, Charles Kwan moved with EKS Motorsport to race in the JGTC. WKS Longman Racing entered Thai driver Nattavude Charoensukhawatana in the championship and he won the title almost unopposed. The only serious rival he had was Chen Jun-San's Toyota Altezza of AAI Motorsports from Taiwan.

Champions

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Thai driver C. Nattavude driving his Peugeot 306 GTi in the ATCC in Zhuhai in 2001.
Toni Ruokonen, 2002 champion.
Season Champion Team Champion Car
2000 Hong Kong Henry Lee Junior WK Longman Racing Peugeot 306 GTI
2001 Thailand Nattavude Charoensukhawatana WK Longman Racing Peugeot 306 GTI
2002 Finland Toni Ruokonen WK Longman Racing Peugeot 306 GTI
2003 Hong Kong Gary Sham Gai Tong 3 Crowns Racing Honda Integra Type-R
2004 Hong Kong Ka Chun Lo 778 Autosport Honda Integra Type-R
Honda Accord
2005 Germany Franz Engstler Engstler Motorsport BMW 320i
2006 Germany Franz Engstler Engstler Motorsport BMW 320i
2007 Malaysia Fariqe Hairuman Petronas Syntium Team BMW 320si
2008 Thailand Jack Lemvard Engstler Motorsport BMW 320si
2009 Hong Kong Cheung Chi Sing Team IMSP Honda Integra DC5
2010 Hong Kong Charles Ng G.Harry Racing Team Honda Integra DC5
2011 Chinese Taipei Jun San Chen Team AAI - Buddy Club Honda Civic FN2
Honda Accord

See also

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References

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