Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific’s teams and drivers enjoyed plenty of success this weekend, with strong showings in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS), GT World Challenge Asia and Porsche Carrera Cup Asia (PCCA).
In Round 5 of the 2022 ELMS campaign, Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific Selected Driver Yifei Ye put in a scintillating lap to take pole position for the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. A puncture for Ye’s teammate saw the team drop from the lead of the race down to tenth, before the Chinese driver put in a great stint to recover to fifth.
Shanghai-based squad Absolute Racing took advantage of the strong pace they’ve shown all season, claiming their first podium of the year in the LMGTE class. The crew of Indonesian racer Andrew Haryanto, 2020-21 Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific Selected Driver Alessio Picariello and Estonian Martin Rump all put in excellent stints to secure third.
The GT World Challenge Asia season came to an end at Okayama International Circuit, with AMAC Motorsport duo Andrew Macpherson and Ben Porter successfully defending their GT3-Am title thanks to third place finish in class on Saturday.
There was also a trip to the podium for Porsche Center Okazaki pair Yuta Kamimura and Hiroaki Nagai, who claimed their third top-three finish of the season, taking third in the final race of the campaign in the #30 Porsche 911 GT3 R.
EBM Giga Racing secured second in the teams’ championship following Reid Harker and Setiawan Santoso’s positive end to the season, with Tanart Sathienthirakul and Kantadhee Kusiri also taking a double points finish in the EBM Giga Racing-run AAS Motorsport car. The Thai pair secured second in the GT3 Silver class after a strong season that saw them score points in every race they competed in.
Porsche Carrera Cup Asia returned to Zhuzhou International Circuit for Rounds 5 and 6 of the season, with Leo Ye continuing his perfect campaign with two victories, making it six wins out of six for the JUNJIE Racing driver. Ling Kang picked up a pair of second place finishes, and Luo Kailuo was third in both races.
Hong Shijie picked up his first Pro-Am win of the season in Round 5, before Lu Wei consolidated his championship lead with victory in Round 6. Henry Kwong snatched the lead in the Am standings with two victories, leading home his brother Eric in both races. Former championship leader Tang Ruobin picked up two third place finishes and now trails Henry Kwong by eight points.
Yifei Ye, #37 COOL Racing Oreca 07: “I was really happy to take pole, the team did a great job with the car and I stayed calm and put in a really good lap. On race day, we were going well before Nico picked up a puncture, dropping us from P1 to P10. I had good pace in my stint, recovering to P5 but it’s still disappointing as we were on to win the race. Overall it’s still been a positive weekend for me and we’ll keep pushing to finish the season strongly at Portimao.”
Andrew Haryanto, #18 Porsche 911 RSR: “Thanks to everyone on the team who worked so hard to make this result possible. Again, we were a bit unlucky with the Full Course Yellow timing that prevented us from fighting for the win, but we should be happy with today’s podium. Looking forward to the final round and hoping for more of the same!”
Alessio Picariello, #18 Porsche 911 RSR: “I’m happy to get our first podium in ELMS this season, especially in my home race. I think we got the maximum out of the car, although we were unfortunate with the timing of the Full Course Yellow. We had great pace once again, Andrew did well in difficult conditions and Martin brought it home safely so we can be satisfied with P3.”
Martin Rump, #18 Porsche 911 RSR: “It’s been a really positive weekend at Spa and a well-deserved podium for the team. A big thank you to the crew for doing a brilliant job all weekend, and to both Alessio and Andrew for putting in some excellent stints. We’ll use this momentum and go for more in the season finale at Portimao.”
Alexandre Gibot, Managing Director Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific Ltd.: “A great weekend for Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific’s teams and drivers! We were very happy to see Yifei take pole with a brilliant lap at Spa. It’s unfortunate the team had mid-race complications that cost them the chance of victory, but Yifei showed terrific pace in his stint to recover to fifth. It’s also fantastic to have Absolute Racing on the podium, they’ve been performing strongly all year and fully deserved this result.
“It’s been a fantastic GT World Challenge Asia campaign for Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific, and we finished the season in style with AMAC Motorsport successfully defending their GT3-Am title at Okayama. Yuta Kamimura and Hiroaki Nagai also put in a great drive in the final race to secure another podium and complete a strong season. Finally, in Zhuzhou, the 2022 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia season continued to entertain, with two fantastic races. Leo Ye was impressive again with two more victories, while the title races in Pro-Am and Am are getting very exciting.”
Source. Pole/Photo. Paola Depalmas
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