OAK Team TOTAL Wins 3H Shanghai

Photo: Paul Khoo/Rewind Images

OAK Racing Team TOTAL continued its domination in the Asian Le Mans Series, with Ho-Pin Tung and David Cheng scoring a convincing victory in Saturday’s Three Hours of Shanghai.

The Chinese duo drove their Morgan-Judd to a one-lap victory over the No. 27 Eurasia Motorsport Oreca 03-Nissan of Pu Jun Jin, John Hartshorne and James Winslow.

Cheng started the TOTAL-sponsored OAK entry from the pole and bridged out a one-lap gap over the Eurasia entry, prior to handing over to Tung for the second half of the race.

It marked OAK’s third win of the season in three races, as the French squad closes in on clinching the LMP2 championship.

“I managed to pit the car in front, putting the other car a lap down, and Ho-Pin took it over from there and took us to our 5th straight Asian Le Mans Series win and the 3rd one in a row this year, so it’s quite a happy day,” Cheng said.

Added Tung: “It’s quite a special experience to race here in Shanghai. I’ve raced here many times before, but to be here and to race into the night was a first for me and it’s also new for the Asian Le Mans Series.

“It was a very nice race and I’m happy for another perfect weekend with the OAK Racing Team Total. Everyone did a fabulous job.”

Clearwater Racing scored top GT class honors with a third place overall finish for its Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Matt Griffin, Keita Sawa and Mok Weng Sun, outpacing the trio of Team AAI entries.

Pole-sitter Takeshi Tsuchiya led early in the No. 90 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 but Griffin, whose car had started from the rear of the field, managed to take over the top spot on Lap 41.

The battle for CN class honors turned into a race of attrition, with the Craft-Bamboo Racing Ligier JS 53 Evo taking the class win, despite not taking the checkered flag.

The No. 21 Avelon Formula Wolf GB08 looked to be en route to victory until electrical issues hit the Italian squad, leaving Craft’s Naoki Yokomizo, Kevin Tse and Samson Chan to pick up the pieces following an accident by Tse.

RESULTS: Three Hours of Shanghai

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John