The action began as soon as the lights extinguished, with van der Drift swiftly slipping into first on turn 1. Pole sitter Latorre had a disastrous start, losing three places and dropping down to p4. By lap 3, van der Drift had built up a 1.8 second lead ahead of Luo Kailuo. Having unceremoniously lost his first place spot, Latorre began a heroic comeback. With EBM Giga Racing’s Reid Harker slipping up on lap 2 and losing two places, Latorre began putting pressure on Luo Kailuo before overtaking him. For the majority of the remainder of the race, Latorre mounted a ferocious assault on van der Drift. The Kiwi driver put on an incredible display of defensive driving, however it ended up not being enough to deter Latorre, and the French driver retook his position at the front of the pack with just three laps remaining. Luo Kailuo was also able to take advantage of the melee ahead of him, and managed to overtake van der Drift on the final lap. The podium saw Latorre claim his first Carrera Cup Asia victory, with Luo Kailuo second over the line and van der Drift crossing third. However, a post-race, 5 second penalty pushed Luo Kailuo down into third place, handing the second-place finish to van der Drift.
As the lights extinguished, Latorre had another disappointing start, losing his spot to Luo Kailuo on the first turn. From his p2 position, Latorre would spend the entire race attacking Luo Kailuo from behind, with the current points-leader driving defensively throughout.
Korea International circuit’s 1.2 km-long straight between turns 2 and 3 is the longest straight on a FIA Grade 1 Circuit in Asia, and as one of the hardest braking points on the track it led to a contretemps between Team Jebsen’s Gao Yujia and Sime Darby Racing Team’s Nazim Azman that saw both drivers end their races. The safety car was brought out on lap 3, demolishing the half-second lead Luo Kailuo had built up by that point.
Having driven defensively for the back half of the race, Luo Kailuo earned his third victory of the season, closely followed by Latorre just two-tenths of a second behind him, with Reid Harker occupying the third spot on the podium. Ragginger came in fourth, just ahead of van der Drift who came in fifth after his incredible comeback.
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