Just one point now separates 2017 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia championship title rivals Chris van der Drift and Martin Ragginger with 187 and 186 points respectively, after a highly-competitive race weekend in Singapore. Fellow Kiwi driver Will Bamber is still in strong contention for the Championship title with 170 points.
Flash rains wet the way for Team Porsche Holding’s Martin Ragginger as he made another definitive step toward the 2017 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia championship title after an expertly driven pole-to-podium victory in Round 10 at the Marina Bay Circuit in Singapore.
With a short burst of heavy rain delaying the race, the sun came out in full as drivers took to the grid for the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia’s first wet race in its 10-year history racing at the circuit. The volatile weather left drivers with the tricky choice of navigating a damp track on their slick tyres or sacrificing pace for grip using wet tyres, with all drivers on the grid opting for the safer wet tyre option as the race began behind the safety car.
Ragginger was unphased by the difficult conditions, putting the hammer on as soon as the safety car went off after two laps. Right behind him was series rival Chris van der Drift of Team Formax who initially put the pressure on Ragginger but saw the race leader slowly pull away as Ragginger exhibited unbeatable pace.
The real early race action took place betweeen Porsche’s group of incredibly talented young drivers in the middle of the pack, with Porsche China Junior Team’s Zhang Dasheng defending his P3 start from the very ambitious Will Bamber of FAW T2M in P4.
Bamber was immediately on the offensive after the safety car pulled out, repeatedly attacking Zhang while Team StarChase’s Philip Hamprecht waited in the wings for Bamber to make an error. Initially underestimating the tumultuous track conditions, Bamber went wide of the track after making a bold pass attempt on Zhang, but managed to recover back into the pack ahead of Hamprecht.
Hamprecht eventually made the pass after another attempt by Bamber to overtake Zhang saw the door slammed in his face but Bamber was undeterred by the loss of position and immediately retaliated to regain his position and push onto Zhang, finally passing him in Lap 4.
Meanwhile, Ragginger increased his lead on van der Drift, doing his best to make no errors as he went unchallenged for the lead. With the track drying, wet tyre temperature soon became a balancing act for the drivers, prompting a cautious second half of the race.
In the end, Ragginger cruised into a first place win with a comfortable gap between him and van der Drift, who finished second, and Bamber, who finished third.
“For me the mission was not to make a mistake today and that’s why we won. At the start of the race, I wasn’t sure. We’ve never driven in Singapore using rain tyres, so the first lap after the start I was looking in my mirror to see Chris’s pace, and see how he was doing. He was close to me in the first lap but I saw I could pull away in the second lap. My car was really, really good and made it easy for me,“ Ragginger said in the press conference after the race.
Ragginger’s victory earned Team Porsche Holding a win in Porsche Dealer Trophy, furthering their commanding lead in the tables.
With the 2017 season building toward an electrifying finale, the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia made a surprise announcement over the weekend that they will be sending select drivers to the Bathurst 12 Hour in a historic series milestone as it enters its first-ever team into an endurance race. Announced by Porsche Ambassador and legendary factory driver Mark Webber during the Official Party after Round 9 on Saturday, four drivers – the 2017 Overall champion, Pro-Am Champion, top performing Porsche China Junior and local Australian Pro-Am driver Paul Tresidder – will form a team to enter the Australian endurance race in 2018.
Comments