Just when the competition looked like it couldn’t get any closer for the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia championship, Team Formax’s Chris van der Drift stormed through Sepang International Circuit to take a critical win in Round 7 that puts him on top after both table leaders were sent spinning after a Turn 1 collision.
The morning’s qualifying session were a perfect reflection of just how talented and hungry this year’s drivers are. With less than 0.4 seconds separating the top 5, it was among the closest qualifying sessions seen in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia history.
Van der Drift took the fastest time of the morning with a blistering 2:08.486 lap-time, just 0.008 seconds ahead of Team StarChase’s Philip Hamprecht who took P2 with 2:08.494. Ready to face off for first place, Team Porsche Holding’s Martin Ragginger snagged a hasty P3 with 2:08.545 just ahead of joint table leader FAW T2M’s Will Bamber on P4 with 2:08.778.
But the grid was shaken up immediately after the start of the race as Team C&D’s Yuan Bo, steaming through Turn 1, braked too late and collided with Absolute Racing’s Tanart Sathienthirakul, sending Sathienthirakul spinning and bringing out the safety car in the first lap. The clash sent ripples through the first-turn pack, eventually resulting in Will Bamber spiraling off the track and Ragginger left fully stopped and sideways in the middle of the track.
The unfortunate turn of luck forced Bamber to concede the championship lead as he, alongside Sathienthirakul and Yuan Bo, had no choice but to retire from the race. Ragginger, narrowly escaping the same fate, was pushed to last place. Later, Team Jebsen’s Cui Yue was forced to retire after car troubles resulting from the crash. A 10-place grid reduction for Round 8 was given to Yuan Bo after the race for his role in causing the crash.
Meanwhile, Hamprecht and van der Drift managed to stay one step ahead of the fracas, where they locked horns for a short battle that saw Hamprecht overtake van der Drift on Turn 3 for the lead. Following not far behind was Porsche China Junior team’s Andrew Tang whose quick manuevering allowed him to avoid the crash to slot into third place.
With the safety car out, the action was quickly halted for 2 laps, resetting the grid when the race began again with 11 laps to go.
Hamprecht was quick to put on pace after the restart, gaining momentum as he gradually built a gap between him and van der Drift while Tang, facing enormous pressure from Force Asia’s Akash Neil Nandy, slipped behind the race leaders as he was left defending from third.
The true heroics of Round 7 came from Ragginger, who refused to give up despite entering lap 4 in last place. Desperate to recover as many championship points possible, the Austrian driver charged through the Pro-Am ranks going from 22nd to 17th to 12th in just two laps.
Hamprecht appeared to be in solid command of his lead as the race entered its final stages, but Malaysia’s blazing heat began taking its toll on the 19-year-old’s tyres, slowing his pace just enough for van der Drift, waiting in the wings, to execute a surgical pass to take the lead in Lap 10. Hamprecht did not give up easily, reacting instantly with an unsuccessful counterattack before losing pace and watching van der Drift pull ahead for the win.
In the end, van der Drift took the victory to jump to the top of the championship tables, followed by Hamprecht in second and Tang, earning his third podium finish of the season, in third place. Salvaging what he could from a bad situation, Ragginger streaked through the ranks to finish in sixth just 0.1 seconds behind Nandy in fifth, while Porsche China Junior Team’s Zhang Dasheng put on a good show to finish fourth.
With both the previous leaders out, van der Drift now leads the championship tables, followed closely by Ragginger in second and Bamber in hanging on to third.
“[Hamprecht] really made me work for it. I sat there and waited to see where I was stronger and tried to the best with my strong points. With 4 laps to go, I managed to catch up with him really quickly. I had just one chance to pass and I made the pass, so that was really good. Well done to him, from there I really thought he had me, but managed to come back toward the end,“ Chris van der Drift said in the press conference after the race.
Hamprecht’s second place win earned Team Starchase first place in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Dealer Trophy, continuing their climb toward current Trophy leader Team Porsche Holding.
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