Archive 2011

Podium Double for Team Jebsen in Shanghai

Team Jebsen celebrated two superb podium finishes in the opening rounds of the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia held in support of the 2011 FORMULA 1 UBS CHINESE GRAND PRIX in Shanghai this weekend.

With 24-year-old driver Rodolfo Avila of Macau, the team earned a second and third place finish in each of the 12-round opening races of the season, no easy feat amongst a record field of drivers and strong competition. Team Jebsen left Shanghai second on the championship leaderboard, just six points adrift of the leader but with a 10-point margin over the third placed driver.

Saturday’s 30-minute qualifying session to determine the starting order for Round 1 saw Team Jebsen set the third fastest time, despite the frustrations of traffic caused by the record field, and Avila lined up on the second row for the start of the opening race of the season.

Avila made a strong getaway, adeptly grabbing second place during a high-speed wrangle off the start. However, in response to aggressive attempts to regain the position from his rival and sensing possible contact as they headed into the congested first corner, he wisely elected to give his rival some space and slotted back into third.

Running on used tyres, after a Safety Car interruption it became clear the Team Jebsen Porsche could not match the pace of drivers running on new rubber and, try as he might, Avila couldn’t catch the leaders. However, a podium finish – and the 16 valuable points for third place – were an excellent start to the season, but Avila and the team demanded more of themselves.

The second race saw Avila brilliantly avoid a three-car incident, as the trio raced three-abreast and wheel-to-wheel off the start. Emerging unscathed, he was able to continue the charge, but had lost out on valuable time during the earlier battle and wasn’t able to close in on the leader enough to challenge for the win. Avila sailed across the line in 2nd place, a full 17 seconds ahead of his closest challenger.

Team Jebsen will be in action again next month at the Zhuhai International Circuit in the Pearl River Delta Region.

Quotes from Team Jebsen

Rodolfo Avila, Team Jebsen Driver:

“It was a good weekend, but not quite good enough for me! I definitely need to find an extra something to be in a better position to challenge for an outright win.”

“There were frustrations in qualifying as it was so difficult to get a clear flying lap, but I made up a place at the start of the first race to go into 2nd. The driver behind was very determined to regain his position and came through aggressively on my inside. With many points at stake and it being the start of the season, I didn’t want to risk us both crashing out.”

“In the second race, after the start it was quite a lonely race for me. Alexandre pulled away quickly and I saw that I didn't have the pace today to overtake him, so I pulled back to conserve the tyres, stay out of trouble and collect the points. Overall it was a good weekend, but of course we are still looking for outright wins. I'm happy but there's still work to do. We need to find a way to match the pace of this weekend’s winner.”

Sven Schnabl, Team Jebsen Engineer:

“The second race for sure we changed quite a lot in terms of set-up; basic things such as the ride height and the camber toe. Personally I think it was the right decision and definitely the pace in Race 2 was better than what we had for Race 1. That being said, the pace was still not fast enough because ultimately we want to be on top of the podium - we still have some work to do.”

“This year, compared to previous years in Shanghai, we did have a few changes to make, especially as we are working with a new tyre spec, but we managed to work a lot of this stuff out during the test day. Overall, we're moving in the right direction."

Porsche Carrera Cup Asia

2011 Provisional Calendar

Date	Circuit, Country	Event	Rounds
March 12-13	Sepang Int. Circuit, Malaysia	Test Days	-
April 15-17	Shanghai Int. Circuit, China	Formula 1 Support Race	Rounds 1&2
May 27-29	Zhuhai Int. Circuit, China	China Touring Car Championship	Rounds 3&4
July 08-10	Ordos Int. Circuit, China	China Touring Car Championship	Rounds 5&6
August 26-28	Sepang Int. Circuit, Malaysia	Porsche Weekend	Rounds 7&8
September 23-25	Marina Bay Circuit, Singapore	Formula 1 Support Race	Round 9
October/November	TBC	TBC	Rounds 10&11

About Rodolfo Avila

Car No: 20

Avila began his career in karts, attending the Macau Karting School at 14, and winning the Macau Karting International A (Group B) a year later. In 2002, he graduated to single seater racing, becoming the youngest driver ever to compete at the Macau Grand Prix, racing in the Formula Renault event.

He took the Asian Formula Renault Challenge championship title the following year, making his Formula 3 Grand Prix debut at Macau in 2004. His career continued its extraordinary ascent, with Rookie honours in the Asian Formula 3 Championship in 2005, finishing 5th overall. A season in the prestigious British Formula 3 Championship saw him end the year 4th in the National Class for newcomers.

Avila made the switch to sportscar racing in 2008, when he became the youngest ever Asian Supercar Challenge Champion. He made his Porsche Carrera Cup Asia debut in 2009, taking pole position and a podium finish in his very first race.

About Team Jebsen

For Team Jebsen, 2011 marks the seventh full season in the series, having taken the championship title in 2006 and 2008.

Team Jebsen is backed by the Jebsen Group. Established in 1895 in Hong Kong, the Group has since expanded its activities into a comprehensive business network throughout China, Taiwan and South Korea. Today, the Jebsen Group is structured around four strategic business units targeting the consumer, industrial, beverage and luxury sectors.

Jebsen is a name synonymous with Porsche in the region, having first brought the marque to Hong Kong in 1955. Since then, the Jebsen Group has become the largest and longest-established Porsche dealer group in Asia. In addition to Porsche Centre Hong Kong, the group operates Porsche Centres in Macau, Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

4/18/2011