Archive 2011

Team Jebsen 2011 Season AnnouncementTeam Jebsen and Avila on the Hunt for Victories

Two-time Porsche Carrera Cup Asia champions Team Jebsen will be on the hunt for victors’ laurels with exciting racing talent Rodolfo Avila of the Macau SAR, as the start of the 2011 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia season approaches.

The 24-year-old driver, who made his debut with Team Jebsen in the region’s premier sportscar championship last year, will be up against a record 26-car grid in 2011. 

The countdown to the season began in earnest last weekend, with team engineer Sven Schnabl of Germany, Avila and the team taking the brand new Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car through its paces at the Official Test days at Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit.

The season proper begins in prestigious fashion at the 2011 FORMULA 1 UBS CHINESE GRAND PRIX weekend in Shanghai from April 15-17.

Bursting with exciting potential, in 2010 Avila more than held his own against a daunting line-up of vastly-experienced sportscar veterans to finish the championship 4th overall.  A pole position and two podium finishes demonstrated an outright victory is very much within grasp, and that is precisely what Team Jebsen will be gunning for from the minute the lights go out and the record field roars off the grid for the start of the 2001 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia season.

Quotes from Team Jebsen
 
Rodolfo Avila:“It is great to be back with Team Jebsen for a second season, and I am determined to repay the team’s faith in me.  Last season we learned so much, particularly about the incredible new Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car.  For me, competing against professionals who have in some cases many, many years’ of orsche competition was a fantastic experience, and I took on board more knowledge than I could have ever imagined.”
 
“The Porsche Carrera Cup is so competitive you just can’t afford not to finish.  Team Jebsen has to be right on the pace every single time we take to the track, and mistakes just aren’t an option.  We ended last season with a second place finish in Zhuhai, and victory was so close I could taste it.  We are ready and we are committed – it is time for us to start clinching outright wins.”
 
Mark Bishop, Jebsen and Co Ltd Group Director:“Team Jebsen are delighted to have Rodolfo back with us for this season.  His undoubted talent, sportsmanship and focus bring a great deal to the team, and together we believe we will see him reach his true potential.”

“Last season was our first together and as expected it was a learning year.  In 2011, we plan to go to the next level with outright victories.”
 
“In China, we look forward to bringing Team Jebsen’s spectacular combination of Porsche know-how and exciting driver talent to our fans in Shanghai and Zhuhai, and to the new circuit in Ordos in Inner Mongolia for the first time.”
 
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.

3/15/2011