Alexandre Imperatori won the second race of the opening Porsche Carrera Cup Asia weekend of the season at Shanghai, in support of the Chinese Grand Prix. In doing so, the Swiss racer repeated his result from the first race, completing a fantastic debut weekend in the series.
Starting in pole position, Team StarChase driver Imperatori got away well. Behind him, the LKM Racing Team duo of Keita Sawa and Darryl O'Young were tussling over second place with Team Jebsen pilot Rodolfo Avila. The fight between the trio resulted in both of the LKM drivers picking up punctures.
There was further drama on the opening lap just behind them, with Mok Weng Sun being hit out of fifth position under breaking for Turn 5 by Anthony Liu. This spun him into Ringo Chong, forcing Chong to retire immediately, while Mok retired seven laps in.
Imperatori built up a margin of six seconds over Avila by the checkered flag. American Brian Wong, making his series debut this weekend, finished in third. He capitalised on the incidents ahead of him to move up from eighth on the grid.
For Imperatori, it was a near-perfect weekend on his Carrera Cup debut. “We missed out on pole by a hundredth of a second, but after two wins, I guess it doesn't matter,” he said.
There was also a strong battle for Class B honours, with Francis Tjia running third overall for much of the race. He spun on the penultimate lap, handing the category win to Chinese driver Wang Jian Wei.
Wang said: “It was a challenging race, but I wouldn’t say today was really difficult. I was behind Francis, but I could see that something was not right with his car and I thought that if I was patient and I waited, he would make a mistake. He did and I was able to benefit from it.”
The next round of the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia will also take place in China, at the Zhuhai International Circuit next month.
Pos. | No. | Driver | Class | Entrant | Time/Gap |
1 | 99 | Alexandre Imperatori (SUI) | A | Team StarChase (CHN) | 26:10.349 |
2 | 20 | Rodolfo Avila (MAC) | A | Team Jebsen (HKG) | +6.399 |
3 | 89 | Brian Wong (USA) | A | Absolute Racing (HKG) | +23.406 |
4 | 9 | Wang Jian Wei (CHN) | B | Team BetterLife (CHN) | +34.500 |
5 | 21 | Francis Tjia (NED) | B | OpenRoad Racing (HKG) | +38.615 |
6 | 16 | Wayne Shen (CAN) | B | Modena Motorsports (HKG) | +49.515 |
7 | 28 | John Shen (CAN) | B | Modena Motorsports (HKG) | +69.760 |
8 | 23 | Paul Tresidder (AUS) | B | Paul Tresidder (AUS) | +70.749 |
9 | 36 | Seven Chian (TPE) | B | Team Hong Kong Racing (HKG) | +83.219 |
10 | 22 | Morris Ku (HKG) | B | Team DAYCRAFT (HKG) | +87.224 |
11 | 83 | Dr. Ma Chi Min (HKG) | B | Asia Racing Team (MAC) | +96.960 |
12 | 68 | Mak Hing Tak (HKG) | B | OMAK (HKG) | +104.469 |
13 | 27 | Adrian Henry D'Silva (MAS) | B | Nexus Racing (MAS) | +116.314 |
14 | 55 | Darryl O'Young (HKG) | A | LKM Racing (HKG) | +117.548 |
15 | 77 | Jacky Yeung (HKG) | B | Jacky Yeung (HKG) | +121.549 |
16 | 88 | Keita Sawa (JPN) | A | LKM Racing (HKG) | 1 Lap |
17 | 15 | Keith Vong (MAC) | B | Asia Racing Team (MAC) | 1 Lap |
33 | Mok Weng Sun (SIN) | A | Team PCS Racing (SIN) | DNF | |
59 | Philip Briandet (SIN) | B | Shift2Neutral Racing (SIN) | DNF | |
5 | Yuey Tan (SIN) | B | Wimobilize McElrea Racing (SIN) | DNF | |
66 | Rose Tan (CHN) | B | Team C&D (CHN) | DNF | |
37 | Anthony Liu (CHN) | B | Woyo Racing (CHN) | DNF | |
7 | Jeffrey Lee (TPE) | B | Team Pauian Archiland Absolute (TPE) | DNF | |
11 | Ringo Chong (SIN) | B | Team Kangshun (CHN) | DNF |