Ho-Pin Tung - Career

Career

Tung started kart racing in the Netherlands in 1997 before graduating to single-seaters. He won the 2003 Formula BMW Asia series and was rewarded with a test drive with the Williams F1 team.

In 2004 he joined the ATS Formel 3 Cup. Although he scored race wins and podium finishes, he finished 7th in his rookie year.

Tung stayed in the ATS F3 Cup in 2005, finishing the series in third place, before taking the title in 2006, winning 9 races, 4 pole positions and 5 fastest laps.

At the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix he was announced as a BMW Sauber test driver for the rest of the year.

On 4 April 2007, BCN Competición announced that it had signed Tung as its second driver alongside Japanese driver Sakon Yamamoto for the 2007 GP2 series.

Tung drove for Trident Racing team in the 2008 GP2 Asia Series and GP2 Series, scoring his first podium finish in the latter.

In 2009 he raced in the Superleague Formula series. He raced in the first three rounds for Galatasaray S.K. and the latter three rounds for Atlético Madrid. He had his first win in the series at the Jarama round for Galatasaray.

In December 2009, Tung tested for the Renault F1 Team. In January he was announced as the team's third driver. As part of the deal, he returned to the GP2 Series with the DAMS team for the 2010 season.

On 23 June 2010, the FIA granted Tung a four-race probationary super license, allowing him to compete in Formula One.

At the Hungaroring round of the GP2 season, Tung sustained a minor fracture of one of his lumbar vertebrae as a result of a first-lap collision with Jules Bianchi, who spun in front of him and suffered a more serious break of the same bone. Tung was replaced by Romain Grosjean while he recovered. However, Grosjean kept the seat for the remainder of the season, leaving Tung without a drive until he was called up to replace Christian Vietoris at Racing Engineering for the final round; Vietoris suffering from appendicitis.

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