Tension Mounts as Title Chase Intensifies
With just four rounds remaining of the 2009 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia
season, a thrilling
showdown between the championship contenders is a sure-fire bet at Rounds
10 & 11 at
the Shanghai International Circuit this weekend.
The 2009 season kicked off at the 5.5km track in support of the Formula 1
Chinese Grand
Prix back in April this year. In the season-opener, it was Team
StarChase driver Christian
Menzel and Briton Tim Sugden who took a win apiece. The pair return more
than six
months later still at the top of the standings, with Menzel's single
point advantage
illustrating just how tight the competition is.
The German's maximum points haul in Singapore in September vaulted him
into the overall
lead and closer to winning his first Porsche Carrera Cup Asia title after
finishing runner-up
in the 2008.
Sugden will be anxious to get back to winning form in Shanghai, after the
2007 Porsche
Carrera Cup Asia champion's unbroken run of eight-straight podium
finishes came to an end
in the Lion City.
Third in the title chase is defending and 2006 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia
champion Darryl
O'Young of Team Jebsen. Twenty-seven points adrift of Menzel, O'Young
will be feeling the
pressure as the clock ticks on his title defense.
Exciting young newcomer Rodolfo Avila continues to impress, the
22-year-old proving he is
more than a match for the seasoned professionals in this, his first
season of Porsche
competition. The Asia Racing Team driver from Macau remains a serious
championship
contender with four races to go.
Another emerging young talent, Danny Chu of the Netherlands, 25, still
has a mathematical
chance of lifting the title, but more important has been his remarkable
development over just
his second full season of motorsport competition.
Hong Kong's Philip Ma and Singapore's Melvin Choo will continue their
season-long battle
in Class B. While Jacob & Co Racing Team's Ma has the edge in the
points, Choo is fiercely
determined to win title, having missed taking title honours by a whisker
in 2008.
Competing in his first full season of the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia,
Singapore's Yuey Tan lies
third in the Class B standings. The Team PCS Racing driver will be joined
in Shanghai by
teammate Mok Weng Sun, who competes in the professional Class A
category.
With five teams and four drivers flying the flag for China, there will be
no shortage of home
support as the series supports the China Touring Car Championship.
-credit: pcc ap
