Ho-pin Tung has F1 in sight

Home>>Sports

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, December 18, 2003

Ho-pin Tung has F1 in sight

Ho-pin Tung already sets his goal high on staking a place on Formula One circuit after he a successful test with the BMW Williams team in Spain last Thursday.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

Ho-pin Tung already sets his goal high on staking a place on Formula One circuit after he a successful test with the BMW Williams team in Spain last Thursday.

The 21-year-old told a press conference on Wednesday that his next goal is Formula one and he would "do everything' to be in it "as soon as possible".

Tung tested a Williams FW24 for 42 laps at the 4.428 kilometer (2.7 mile) Jerez de la Frontera circuit, posting a fastest lap of 1 minute 22,982 seconds on lap 33.

The Dutch national of Chinese origin was satisfied with his own performance, considering that he had never driven anything like a F1 car before. The test obviously built up his confidence.

"Before the test, F1 is like a dream, but now it becomes a goal, " he repeated on Wednesday what he said in Spain.

His manager Bert Winkler, however, thought that Tung still needed time to get into F1.

"It's hard to say how far he is now from F1. That depends on a lot of things. He is young and we have to do that step by step," he said.

He earned this year's Asian Formula BMW champion and his F1 chance after dominating the new Asia series with 12 poles and 10 wins in 14 races in China, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea and Thailand.

BMW Motorsport director Mario Theissen said after the test that they had been keeping their eyes on Ho-Pin for some time and were impressed by his test drive.

"His approach and his improvements over the course of the day did prove he has serious potential as a racing driver," he said.

Tung, whose parents come from Wenzhou, 300 miles (500 kms) south of Shanghai, grew up in the Netherlands and speaks five languages. He began karting at the age of 14 and entered his first car race four years ago.

Questions?Comments? Click here

Chinese Tung drives into history books in F1

First Chinese F1 racer on right track

China opposes foreign interference on HK affairs: Official ( 54 Messages)

China seeks int'l support in counter-terrorism ( 12 Messages)

Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein arrested ( 101 Messages)

Nanjing Massacre remembered ( 54 Messages)

Abandoned Chinese babies find love from foreign parents ( 3 Messages)