Porsche Carrera Cup Asia 2010 season opens at Shanghai
Season 2010 of the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia kicked off over the weekend, playing the role of support race to the 2010 Shanghai F1 Grand Prix. Raced over two rounds of 12 laps each, the season’s opener saw defending champion Christian Menzel picking up where he left off in the previous season, by winning both rounds of the weekend.
The defending champion, racing for Team StarChase, took the chequered flag after finishing 5.495 seconds ahead of Darryl O’Young of LKM Racing. Marchy Lee of Red Bull racing came in third. In the field of non-professional drivers, Mok Weng Sun of Team PCS Racing won Class B ahead of OpenRoad Racing’s Francis Tjia and Team Kangshun’s Ringo Chong.
Speaking after his first win, Menzel said, “It may have looked perfect but it wasn’t easy! Especially as we had a problem with the gearbox. After qualifying, we thought a bearing may be broken, but because of the time period between qualifying and the race, we decided to risk racing with it. I was so nervous the whole time. The car felt fantastic, but the gearbox was making so much noise.”
From the flag-off Menzel quickly sprinted off and put daylight between himself and the rest of the pack. Behind him, O’Young and Lee were scrapping neck-and-neck against each other to take runners-up position, a battle that was ultimately settled in O’Young’s favour.
Menzel was even more dominant in the second race, crossing the finishing line more than 7.6 seconds ahead of again second-placed O’Young, who once again had to contend with a hard-fighting Marchy Lee. Unfortunately for Lee, he overcooked an overtaking maneuver against O’Young and ended up spinning wide, puncturing his tyre in the process.
Lee’s retirement in Lap 6 allowed Craig Baird of Team PCS Racing to take third place. Baird’s team mate, Mok Weng Sun, once again clinched victory for Class B, ahead of Team Kangshun’s Ringo Chong. Francis Tjia of OpenRoad Racing took third place in the Class.
Menzel’s perfect performance means he tops the Porsche Carrera Cup leader-board, with O’Young five points behind, although date clashes with his participation in the FIA World Touring Car Championship mean he will miss rounds later in the season. Baird lies third, 11 points adrift of Menzel. In Class B, Mok has a seven point advantage over Chong and Francis Tjia, who are tied in second place.
Menzel was understandably delighted to have got his title defence off to such a good start, but mindful of the fickle nature of motorsport, “The weekend was perfect – fastest in practice, qualifying, winning both races and setting the fastest laps in each. To do this you need a fantastic car which is what I had. After yesterday we changed a few small things, but the solution today was the new set of tyres we had. The first three laps I had so much grip. But, this was our plan, our strategy, and as a result we won, but I am old enough to know this can change very fast!”
O’Young continued to wrestle to find the right setup, “It was tough! Christian gained his advantage in qualifying. That’s how far back his advantage goes. We’re still struggling with setup. It’s disappointing not to win, but second is good and I’m pleased I was able to hold off Marchy. I just tried to drive a steady race, but couldn’t get enough grip. We really need to work on setup.”
The Porsche Carrera Cup Asia continues next month, with Rounds 3 and 4 to be held at Beijing’s Goldenport Circuit from May 21-23 at the Fascination Porsche weekend.
Pictures: Official Porsche release
