Porsche Carrera Cup Asia 2010 – Round 5 & 6 at Zhuhai
Marchy Lee garnered back to back wins at the Zhuhai International Circuit when he won round 5 and 6 of Porsche Carrera Cup Asia 2010. The Red Bull Racing driver finally broke defending champion Christian Menzel’s dominance from earlier rounds.
In round 5, Lee took his first Porsche Carrera Cup Asia victory of the season, with a convincing win at the 4.3km Zhuhai International Circuit. The Hong Kong driver crossed the line with an impressive margin of 5.467 seconds over second placed Keita Sawa of Japan, guest driver for the LKM Racing Team. Third overall and winner in Class B was Team PCS Racing’s Mok Weng Sun, who continued his extraordinary run of victories, but also became the first non-professional racer in the series’ history to take an overall podium finish. Second in Class B was Pauian Archiland Team’s Jeffrey Lee, who managed to get by Francis Tjia of OpenRoad Racing on the final lap having mercilessly piled on the pressure for the entire race.
In the eventful 12-lap race, pole-sitter Rodolfo Avila of Team Jebsen, reigning champion and current points leader Menzel of Team StarChase, and Mok’s team mate Craig Baird of New Zealand, all failed to finish after a dramatic incident on only the second lap. As the lights went out, Lee was off the grid like a bullet, getting by Avila and immediately pulling away from the chasing pack. In what was a disastrous start for the Macau racer, first Baird and then Menzel got by, relegating him to fourth. Avila fought back though, but as he tried to take Menzel on the inside, he braked too late, made contact with Baird, spun and collected Menzel. The trio ended their race in the gravel.
Meanwhile in round 6, Lee notched up his second victory with a faultless lights-to-flag win in the 12-lap race. Second, for the second time today, was LKM’s Keita Sawa, with Christian Menzel of Team StarChase hot on his heels in third. Mok Weng Sun of Team PCS Racing won his sixth Class B victory of the season, and crossed the line sixth overall. Second again in the class was Team Pauian Archiland Team’s Jeffrey Lee, ahead of Modena Motorsport’s Wayne Shen of Hong Kong.
After six rounds, Menzel still leads the overall championship standings with a healthy margin of 18 points from Team PCS Racing’s Craig Baird in second. Mok lies third, six points behind, and increases his lead at the top of Class B to 40 points from Francis Tjia. Marchy Lee’s two victories put him fourth overall, while Team Jebsen’s Rodolfo Avila drops two places to sixth behind Sawa. Off the grid, Lee was once again away like a bolt, chased by Sawa. Mok, starting from the second row, did what he had set out to do and stayed with the two leaders for the first few laps enabling him to pull away from the rest of the Class B field. But from the off, Menzel was a man on a mission, ploughing through the field and up to 8th by the end of the opening lap. Baird and Avila were also on the move, gaining places each lap and finishing fourth and fifth respectively.
Photo : PR Plus Ltd.
