Archive 2010
Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Zhuhai International Circuit, June 18 - 20, 2010 Results – Round 6Lee Makes it a Double
Red Bull Racing’s Marchy Lee notched up his second victory of the 2010
faultless lights-to-flag win in the 12-lap race. Second, for the second time today, was LKM Racing guest driver Keita Sawa of Japan, with series points leader and reigning champion Christian Menzel of Team StarChase hot on his heels in third.
Mok Weng Sun of Team PCS Racing won his sixth Class B victory of the season, and crossed the line sixth overall. Second again in the class was Team Pauian Archiland Team’s Jeffrey Lee, ahead of Modena Motorsport’s Wayne Shen of Hong Kong.
After six rounds, Menzel still leads the overall championship standings with a healthy margin of 18 points from Team PCS Racing’s Craig Baird in second.
Mok lies third, six points behind, and increases his lead at the top of Class B to 40 points from Francis Tjia. Marchy Lee’s two victories put him fourth overall, while Team Jebsen’s Rodolfo Avila drops two places to sixth behind Sawa.
Lee had to work harder for his second win of the day, but nevertheless made no errors on his run to the flag: “I knew I had to push hard for the first three laps, and to try and manage Sawa. His lap times were so close this time, it was important not to make any mistakes.”
For Sawa, the final three laps were anything but problem-free. Menzel, who had started from the back of the grid along with Baird and Avila, the trio having crashed out of the first race, was on a charge, and breathing heavily down the Japanese driver’s neck in the closing stages. In addition, Sawa had to wrestle with a heated engine and brake issues which made car handling tough: “Marchy was so quick today, and it seemed to me he controlled the race. Menzel put me under some pressure in the last few laps, but I’m very happy to give two podiums to my LKM Racing team and my supporters in Japan. I really do hope to be back for more races this season.”
Menzel was almost more delighted with his third place than he had been after his previous four victories: “Brilliant! Today we showed everyone we are back! What happened today gave me a great feeling. For me, this represents second place (as Sawa is a guest driver). After the (incident in) first race, it wasn’t clear we could fix the car in time, but full compliments to my Team StarChase. I did fastest laps all race.”
As to whether the German could have taken Sawa on the way to the flag, having charged through almost the entire field, it was clear adrenaline didn’t get in the way
of common sense: “Sawa was fast, but I was gentle as it made no sense to challenge him. I’m not stupid enough to do this!”
Off the grid, Lee was once again away like a bolt, chased by Sawa. Mok, starting from the second row, did what he had set out to do and stayed with the two leaders for the first few laps enabling him to pull away from the rest of the Class B field.
The start also saw Jeffrey Lee get a less-than-perfect getaway, allowing rival Francis Tjia to gain a place on him.
But from the off, Menzel was a man on a mission, ploughing through the field and up to 8th by the end of the opening lap. Baird and Avila were also on the move, gaining places each lap and finishing fourth and fifth respectively.
For Francis Tjia, it was a disappointing race after a gearbox problem saw him drop down the order to finish 10th, behind fellow Hong Kong driver Jacob & Co Racing’s Philip Ma.
6/22/2010