The Swiss driver returns to the track in fine style, winning and helping KIA Motors increase its championship lead
Alex Fontana has completed a victorious return to the China Tourng Car Championship. After concluding the 2018 season in the Blancpain GT Series by conquering the title in the Silver Cup category, the Swiss driver was back in action with the KIA K3, the car he himself developed and debuted in recent years. Fontana flew to China this past weekend and on the Shanghai Tianma circuit secured an excellent second place in qualifying, just 6 thousandths off pole position. He went one better in the race with a splendid victory thanks to a pass at the expense of the newly-crowned BTCC champion Colin Turkington. Fontana’s win, as well bringing personal laurels allowed KIA Motors to increase its lead in the constructors’ championship, thanks also to the second place secured by Ye Hong Li, with 333 points in the standings against the 272.5 of Volkswagen. Moreover, with 149 points the Chinese driver is making a serious title challenge himself. The regulations specify that Alex, as a foreign driver, cannot participate in the full championship, but the three rounds he has disputed to date have brought 43.5 points, enough to leapfrog the former touring car champion Robert Huff who has 36.
Alex Fontana
“The Tianma result was truly unbelievable. The team was coming off the back of two fairly difficult races as the weight penalty imposed on the faster cars had made our K3 very uncompetitive. On the streets of Wuhan, our drivers were involved in numerous collisions and it was therefore necessary that we all pulled for the team on this occasion. This is what I did and was why I was allowed to race for the win despite the fight for the title being very much open and even though I would have willingly given way to Ye Hong Li for the sake of the championship. As ever, I would like to thank KIA Motors for the support received and obviously at the last round in November I’ll be doing my best to help them bring both titles home.”