Following victory in the China GT series last week, this time the Swiss driver has taken the KIA to the podium
Alex Fontana’s CTCC (China Touring Car Championship) season got underway at the Guangdong International Circuit. The Swiss driver got his first taste of the new KIA K3 2.0T which he had the honour of driving on its debut at the circuit on China’s southern coast. On the strength of the Constructors’ title conquered the previous season, the Korean manufacturer lined up for the start of the race with the latest version of its saloon car, confirming the Swiss driver as a member of Team KIA Racing China. There was a strong and competitive field with works teams entered by Ford, Baic, Volkswagen and Toyota.
In Race 1, Alex suffered a problem with a defective clutch, but did manage to steer clear of a couple of bad crashes involving a number of rivals and was able to secure a position in the first five. In the second heat, the Lugano-based driver was twice involved in collisions: two drivers lost control of their cars, cannoning into the innocent Fontana. In spite of the conspicuous damage to his KIA K3, Alex gritted his teeth and clawed his way to his first podium of the season, permitting the Korean manufacturer to leave the Guangdong circuit with a lead in the Constructors’ Championship. The next round of the CTCC is scheduled for the weekend of the 1st and 2nd of June at the Shanghai International Circuit, while Alex is already heading for his third consecutive race weekend in the China Endurance Championship.
Alex Fontana
“This was my first race of the season at the wheel of a touring car and I'm delighted to have returned to the track with the KIA Motors team. I’m very satisfied with how things turned out, even though it was by no mean an easy weekend. I survived with a damaged car, managing to claim a 3rd place podium finish. The whole team worked very hard to ensure we left China at the top of the constructors' standings and things could hardly have gone much better thanks to my teammates’ efforts. After last week’s win with the GT, I was very proud to grab another trophy in the touring car series. However, there is still more to come and next weekend I’ll be back on track at Ningbo for an endurance race with a Golf TCR and I can’t wait to get to grips with this latest challenge.”