2019 Urban Touring Series Rd4 – Report
Round 4 of the 2019 Urban Touring Series was held this past weekend and the big story was Sean Lee’s domination of the event with his first ever win in the series, with the added bonus of a TQ. Prior to the event, the question everyone was asking was who would step up to the top step of the podium this time as the event would see several top racers skipping the round due to other commitments. The final entry count was still a healthy 19 racers, with several new faces and plenty of fast guys to make the race interesting. In qualifying, Sean Lee showed his intentions with TQ runs in both Q1 and Q2. In Q1, the early challenge from Esmail Apandi soon fizzled out as Esmail made a mistake. In Q2, PY Tang would give Sean a run for his money, but Sean held his nerve and took TQ by 1.3s margin. This would unlock Sean’s first ever overall TQ at a UTS event. Sean sat out Q3, and it opened the door for PY Tang to take TQ for the round and secure a P2 start in the mains. Esmail would qualify 3rd, with Koh Boon Yang 4th. Securing the other direct A-main spots were EC Wee and Hasron Robana.
On to the mains, and the Sean show continued. In A-main leg 1, the racers got off to a clean start with Sean holding on to his lead. Esmail made a mistake rolling as he came on to the straight, opening the door for Boon Yang to advance to P3 where he would challenge PY Tang. A mistake by Boon Yang 90s in dropped him down the order, with EC Wee taking over in 3rd. That was how they would finish leg 1. In leg 2, an early kerb incident by Esmail allowed Boon Yang to inherit P3 where he would once again be faced with PY Tang in P2. In one of the closest races at Urban in recent history, Boon Yang was unable to make a pass on PY who did a great job in making his car as wide as possible. As PY and Boon Yang battled, Sean would romp to a 3.8s win, sealing a great day for him as he took his first ever UTS win. This young man has certainly come a long way. In leg 3, with Sean electing to run, the fight for the podium would get interesting. In the early stages, a small opening by PY allowed Esmail to go by where he would then challenge Sean for the lead. Close racing ensued for the next 1.5mins before a small incident coming on to the straight allowed Boon Yang to sneak by for the lead. Sean and Esmail resumed their battle for P2, but another coming together several laps later saw Hasron go by for 2nd, and Nicolas moving up to 3rd. This was how they would finish, and with the leg 3 win, Boon Yang would snatch overall 2nd by a tiebreak from from PY Tang. The next UTS event will be on August 25th.
Source: Urban PlaySpace [facebook.com]
