It‘s a dead heat for the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia championship table going into mid-season. After a perfect score in Round 5 and 6, FAW T2M’s Will Bamber is now head-to-head with early-season dominator Martin Ragginger of Team Porsche Holding, with the two preparing to faceoff in a critical tie-breaker during Round 7 and 8 at Sepang International Circuit from July 21 to 23.
Ragginger had a commanding point lead early on in the season, winning a first and second place podium in both Shanghai and Fuji. But, as is the nature of motorsport, things can change in an instant. Two thundering first-place performances from Will Bamber and a tough qualifying session for Ragginger at Bangsaen tilted the tables, leaving both tied at 116 points at the end of the last round.
While the table leaders will undoubtedly clash at the top, Team Formax’s Chris van der Drift is not one to overlook for the championship. Displaying an insatiable thirst for victory over the past two stops, van der Drift stubbornly challenged Bamber for the podium from second place during both Bangsaen races and earned a well-deserved first place win during Round 4 in Fuji. The 2015 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia champion is just two points behind the leaders with 114 points.
Beyond the championship‘s top 3 is a mid-table free-for-fall, with slim point differences across a heavily talented pack of young drivers. Porsche China Junior Team’s Andrew Tang has kept busy between stops, joining fellow Porsche China Junior Team driver Zhang Dasheng to compete in the Porsche GT3 Cup Trophy China during the China GT race weekend at Zhuhai International Circuit at the beginning of July.
Tang currently holds on to 4th place with 77 points, narrowly leading a pack of the Carrera Cup Asia Talent Pool drivers with Absolute Racing’s Tanart Sathienthirakul in 5th with 76 points, Team StarChase’s Philip Hamprecht in 6th with 73 points, Zhang Dasheng in 7th with 71 points and Force Asia’s Akash Neil Nandy in 8th with 46 points.
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