FORMER national champion Michael Lieu has won the drive in a factory-prepared Subaru Vivio in the 555 Hong Kong to Beijing Rally in late October.
A first for a Hong Kong driver, Lieu has been seriously into rallying for six years and, in the past two years, has made a mark on the international scene.
He achieved another first for a Hong Kong-born driver in the New Zealand Rally earlier this month when he won 17 of the 36 Group N special stages in a new Mitsubishi Lancer RS. He had only driven the car for six kilometres on dirt before the event.
The New Zealand Rally is a leg of the World Championship and featured all the top drivers on the circuit.
Lieu finished third overall in Group N - basically for stock standard cars - behind Japan's Yoshio Fujimoto and current world championship leader Alessandro Fassina.
Not one to rest on his laurels, Lieu is competing in the Malaysian leg of the Asia-Pacific Rally Series beginning today in his old Mitsubishi Galant VR4.