Last weekend saw Rounds 7 & 8 of the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia (PCCA) take place at the Sepang F1. The race started off in dramatic fashion with a collision between Team Basetex driver Zhang Da Sheng and Perfetti as they were headed in to Turn 2, causing the retirement of several drivers. The incident on the opening lap brought out the Safety Car, closing up the field.
Round 7 saw a restart on lap 5 with PICC Team StarChase holding firm on their lead, but with constant pressure from Team Eagle, the 24-year old Alexandre Imperatori locked up under braking and very nearly lost the race. Imperatori however, recovered well and held on to take the chequered flag, extending his points advantage.
For Imperatori, it was a relief to cross the line after a close call at the restart after the Safety Car period: “It was a matter of keeping Martin (Ragginger) behind me, which is never easy! The track conditions were quite tricky after yesterday’s MMER race, very different from Friday’s qualifying. I nearly threw it away a couple of corners after the restart when I locked up. I barely escaped with it!”
In Class B, 11 laps of superb racing saw Wayne Shen of Modena Motorsports taking home honours, propelling him to the top of the category leaderboard. Coming home second was Francis Tjia of OpenRoad Racing with Huang Chu Han of Asia Racing Team in third.
Shen made an impressive comeback to finish first in Round 7, having battled technical issues during qualifying, and setting the 6th fastest Class B time. Biding his time behind Huang, he was ready to pounce the moment his rival slipped up to grab the lead. Francis Tjia elected to play it safe, despite an attempt at getting by at Turn 4, but threw down the gauntlet for Round 8, saying: “I decided it was better to stay friends this time, but he’d better watch out in the next race!”
Positions on the grid was reversed on Round 8, offering an epic battle of points for all spectators. Class A saw Imperatori starting 8th on the grid, after having won Round 7, but saw him clawing up his way to the top 5 only after just several corners. At the very limit, he ran dramatically wide and onto the grass, allowing Tung Ho-Pin of Budweiser Team StarChase to get by briefly. Ragginger in 3rd took the chase to Sawa of LKM Racing Team, whilst Rouget of Team Yongda Dongfang extended his lead to over two seconds.
In searing heat, Ragginger held off a sustained and fierce attack from Imperatori while keeping Sawa firmly in his sights, plunging past the Japanese driver on Lap 5, and hunting down Rouget. Imperatori was not far behind though, and was back on Ragginger’s bumper almost immediately. Avila, too, was on a charge, passing first Tung then Sawa, and suddenly looming large in Imperatori’s mirrors. By the end of Lap 7, the pack had reeled in Rouget, with Ragginger and Imperatori getting by and Avila joining the epic four-car battle, the Macau racer getting by the Frenchman. Sawa, too, was still in the fight, also passing Rouget in the penultimate lap.
The last-lap thriller saw Imperatori giving it everything he had, headlights ablaze, Ragginger holding his line superbly, and Avila glued to the Swiss driver’s bumper awaiting an error. Following an inquiry by race Stewards, Ragginger was handed a 30-second penalty which demoted him to 9th in the order, for overtaking under a yellow flag. Round 8 came to a close with Imperatori taking home class honours, with Avila of Team Jebsen and Sawa of LKM Racing Team coming in second and third respectively. Over in Class B, the finisher podium saw the same faces, except with a minor rearrangement – Huang Chu Han in first, followed by Wayne Shen and Francis Tjia respectively.
Imperatori now leads the 2012 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia championship race with a margin of 34 points from reigning champion Keita Sawa of the LKM Racing Team, while Shen now has a 32 point advantage over Seminole Racing Team’s Egidio Perfetti in Class B. PCCA is thundering towards a brilliant climax to its 10th season, with the series back in action later this month with the Porsche SC Global Carrera Cup Asia – Singapore 2012 on the Marina Bay street circuit as part of the blue riband FORMULA 1 SINGTEL SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX from September 21-23.
**Provisional Points after Round 8
Overall
Pos
#1 (99) Alexandre IMPERATORI / PICC Team StarChase (147pts)
#2 (1) Keita SAWA / LKM Racing Team (113pts)
#3 (98) TUNG Ho-Pin / Budweiser Team (StarChase 88pts)
#4 (20) Rodolfo AVILA / Team Jebsen (88pts)
#5 (86) Martin RAGGINGER / Team Eagle-Jiejun & Junbaojie (87pts)
Class B
Pos
#1 (16) Wayne SHEN / Modena Motorsports (138pts)
#2 (88) Egidio PERFETTI / Seminole Racing Team (106pts)
#3 (21) Francis TJIA / OpenRoad Racing (97pts)
#4 (81) HUANG Chu Han / Asia Racing Team (95pts)
#5 (6) ZHENG Ting / BBT (78pts)
**Results and Points provisional, pending a technical investigation
To view the full album from PCCA Rounds 7 & 8, click here.
