Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Racing Series – Standing Update
The Porsche Carrera Cup Asia completed Rounds 2 & 3 over the weekend and racing was, as always, exciting. The qualifying session was interesting with drivers having to contend with a wet conditions, but on race day conditions were perfect. With the practice sessions prior to the race and their experience from Round 1, many of the Carrera Cup drivers were getting to grips with the Porsche GT3. Times were coming down all throughout the field, the key ingredient for an interesting race.
Qualifying – 7th June 2003
Conditions were less than ideal during qualifying as it rained just before the Porsche Carrera Cup qualifying session. A majority of the drivers went out of wet tyres but there were a few drivers who braved it with slicks, in hopes that the track would dry up toward the end of the qualifying session. In the first few laps, most of the drivers were understandably cautious but as they got used to the wet track, times started to fall. As a dry line appeared on the track, many started to come in to change into slicks. However, the right strategy was the one adopted by Toby Venter who basically stayed on wet tyres for the whole session. He managed to clock a time of 2’33s to collect pole position, ahead of Charles Kwan (winner of Round 1), Nigel Alborn and Nattavude. Tommy Lee of Jaseri Racing was 5th fastest at 2’36s and he managed the time at the very last minutes of qualifying on
slicks.
Round 2 – 8th June 2003
The Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Race Round 2 started at exactly 11.30 am under sunny conditions. Toby Venter got off to a fantastic start turning into the first corner ahead of Nigel Alborn and Charles Kwan. Tommy Lee managed to turn the first corner in 4th position, followed by Nattavude and Tunku Hammam. Toby Venter pulled a lead on the chasing Nigel Alborn and Charles Kwan.
Toward the middle part of the race, Nigel and Charles managed to catch Toby Venter and in their duel for the lead, both cars touched with Charles’ car suffering damage to the radiator. Charles pulled out of the race in the subsequent lap. The accident benefited Nattavude as he managed to takeover the lead, a position he maintained for the rest of the race. Nattavude was followed by Toby Venter and Nigel Alborn, in 2nd and 3rd position respectively.
There was also close racing for the 4th and 5th positions which saw Tommy Lee dueling with Tunku Hammam and Thai driver, Inthrapuvasak. At the end of the race, Inthrapuvasak managed to edge past Tommy for 4th position. As the cars came back from the race, one could really see how close the racing was. The battle scars were clearly evident in many of the race cars. Jaseri Racing’s car was no exception with the most notable being a knock to the left rear wheel, which affected the telemetry of the car.
Round 3 – 8th June 2003
The finishing position in Round 2 determined the starting grid for Round 3. Tommy Lee started from 5th position with the most notable absence up front being Charles Kwan who started from the back.
The race started at 3.10 pm under perfect conditions. Toby Venter made a superb start from second position to take the lead into the first corner however, he was adjudged to have jump-started and a penalty time of 1 minute was to be imposed on him. Nigel also got off to a good start and by the middle of the race, had overtaken Toby. Nigel cruised to win his first race of the season. Nigel was followed Nattavude and Charles Kwan, who had worked his way through the field. Thai driver, Inthrapuvasak again finished 4th while Tommy Lee finished in 5th position. Tommy and Tunku Hamman were dueling up to the last lap of the race.
The next race will be held in Pasir Gudang, Johor – a narrow track – toward the end of this month. Watch out for more exciting and closer racing.
Damian Dielenberg
9th June 2003
