Hong Kong racer Shaun Thong becomes first Chinese driver to win Japan’s Super Taikyu Series

The 24-year-old helps debuting Team Hirix through fires, crashes and hospital visits to pole position

‘I will never get tired of racing but I do wish I could go back to Hong Kong’ says Thong, who has been stuck in Japan for nearly a year

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Hong Kong driver Shaun Thong (third from left) celebrates with his Team Hirix teammates after securing a round in the 2020 Super Taikyu Series. Photo: Handout

Published: 7:18am, 27 Jan 2021Updated: 6:52pm, 27 Jan 2021

Hong Kong star Shaun Thong Wei-fung has become the first Chinese driver to win the Super Taikyu Series after his Team Hirix Good Day Racing were officially crowned overall and ST-X champions for 2020 in Japan on Tuesday.

The 24-year-old played a vital role in keeping his all-Japanese team firmly at the top of the leaderboard since round one. Organisers had confirmed the win after the series’ sixth and final round was cancelled after a state of emergency was declared in areas to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. The announcement formalities could have come sooner, however.

“It took a while because we knew the race was cancelled last week. They should have announced it a bit earlier, but of course it’s a nice feeling,” Thong said, adding that he has been “a bit bored” in the past month.

“Everyone was under a lot of pressure and we really fought hard for this. Everyone deserves this brilliant result. It was almost the perfect job. I wouldn’t say perfect because we can never be perfect, but we tried our best to minimise our mistakes and this was the result. The team which makes the least mistakes wins the championship. Hopefully, we can do it in 2021 if I get the chance.”

Team Hirix Racing teammates lift Shaun Thong after winning another race in the 2020 Super Taikyu Series championship. Photo: Handout

The debuting quintet – made up of youngest member Thong, Shinichi Takagi, Daisuke Yamawaki, Yuki Nemoto and owner Hisamori Hayashi – have had a roller-coaster campaign.

Last September, Team Hirix miraculously steered their burning car into first place at the Fuji 24-Hour Super Tec to take pole position. They came second in Sugo in round two, before crashing out in Okayama the next round. They won the fourth round of the Motegi 5-Hours despite veteran Takagi totalling the car and being rushed to hospital in the previous round, leaving them scrambling for a replacement car. They finished fourth in the then-penultimate round at the Autopolis 5-Hours in Hita.