It will be a battle of legends at the Sepang International Circuit this 18-19 April weekend as some of Asia’s most prominent touring car drivers arrive at the circuit for the Season Opener of the Asian Touring Car Series.

Hong Kong race legend and long time Asian Touring Car Series competitor, Danny Stacy Chau, was seen during the Free Practice sessions at the circuit yesterday in preparation for the weekend. Danny Chau’s Team IMSP has recently formed a partnership with the S&D Motorsport team. The new team partnership means that his once on-track rival, Frank Yee, is now part of his team but the on-track battles for the win will remain fierce between the duo.

The merging of the two teams means that Team IMSP, now called IMSP/S&D Racing Team, will remain with Danny Chau, Cheung Chi Sing and Man Ting Yu while S&D Motorsport will maintain the duo of Frank Yee and Harry Chai.

For Danny Chau, being at the circuit for the start of the season is a nice feeling and the partnership with S&D Motorsport was a great move and at the right time, “The partnership is to help further promote the race series in this region. We hope that with the partnership, we will be able to get more exposure and we will be able to gain newcomers into the series in future.

“Right now, our team consist of some of the best drivers in Hong Kong, Frank who has raced in Canada, Harry from Malaysia and George Ong from Singapore”.

Drivers will be competing in the first two rounds of the season around the 2.8km North Track. The weather will play an important role this weekend as heavy thunderstorms are expected to fall at the circuit and after the recent downpour witnessed by millions around the world during the Formula 1 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix just two weeks ago, the rain is a main concern.

“If it rains, the last two corners will be very dangerous, because you have to go through the two barriers (where the north and south track is separated), if you slide you will touch the barriers and you have no where to go and you have to say farewell to the race” says Danny Chau when asked about the possibility of rain.

As for his teammate “I enjoy racing in the rain… I used to race on ice in Canada so the rain is no problem” says Yee with a laugh.  

Competition in the series will be tough, with strong Championship challenges also expected from both Adrian Henry D’Silva and Gary Sham.

Malaysian driver, D’Silva will be participating in his second full year in the Asian Touring Car Series. He will continue to use the Honda Integra DC5, which brought him fourth place in the series last year and will be looking forward to another good battle on his home circuit.

Meanwhile, a regular participant of the Asian Touring Car Series since 2004, Gary Sham knows the circuit well, having raced here in the past. Sham, a native of Hong Kong, was absent from the ATCS for two years to participate in the Hong Kong Touring Car series and has marked a return to the series.

Qualifying for the Asian Touring Car Series will be held on Saturday, 18 April at 5.25pm while the 20-lap Rounds 1 & 2 will be held on Sunday, 19 April at 4.10pm and 5.30pm respectively.