Last weekend, the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia virtual race kicked off smoothly. On May 9, the Cup will take advantage of the victory and move to Suzuka, Japan to start the third and fourth rounds of virtual racing. As a legendary track that many drivers aspire to, the Suzuka International Circuit was opened for the first time by the Cup in the 2019 season and has become one of the highlights of the entire season.
Porsche Carrera Cup Asia virtual race first round opens at Shanghai International Circuit
Race in groups to enrich the online racing experience
Due to competition requirements, after discussion by the event organizing committee, the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Virtual Race will be increased from 2 to 4 races per race. Starting from the second round, professional drivers and gentleman/amateur drivers will conduct practice, qualifying and race respectively.
The main schedule for May 9 is as follows:
Old friends and rookies gather at the virtual Suzuka Circuit
With the adjustment of the number of races in each race, more outstanding drivers from the cup races will also return. Professional driver Daniel Lu Wenlong (Daniel Lu Wenlong), who represented Jebsen Racing Team in the virtual race, was one of them. In 2017, he stood out from nearly 300 participants to become a young Porsche China driver and became the youngest driver in the history of the Cup Participated in the 2018 season and achieved good results in the 2019 season. OpenRoad Racing’s gentleman driver Francis Tjia and amateur driver Christian Chia will also return for the second round of the race. Xie Hanyao is a veritable old friend of the Cup. He has participated in 123 cup games and won the second place in the gentleman’s group in the 2012 and 2018 seasons. In addition, Belgian driver Alessio Picariello, representing the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia team, and Eshan Pieris, the first Sri Lankan driver in the cup representing Absolute Racing, both made their cup debuts.
Drivers compete fiercely on the virtual Shanghai International Circuit
Porsche Carrera Cup Asia virtual race first and second rounds
At 4:00 pm on April 26, the 2020 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Virtual Race started smoothly. This is the first time that Porsche Asia Pacific Motorsports has held an international online racing competition. The wonderful duel of the two rounds in the first round provided fans and friends with a unique viewing experience. The audience who entered the live broadcast room in advance also witnessed the practice session and the birth of the first pole position.
Perhaps because of his extraordinary talent, as the only driver who has not competed in the Shanghai International Circuit in reality, Jonathan Hoggard (Johnathan Hoggard), who represented last season’s annual dealer team champion Starchaser team, set a best time of 2:06.090 A quick lap to take pole position for the first round and 0.15 seconds ahead of 2016 overall champion Nico Menzel. Third place was Modena Motorsports driver Benny Simonsen with a time of 2:06.303.
Team StarChase’s Johnathan Hoggard takes the lead
As the starting lights of the first Porsche Carrera Cup Asia virtual race went out, the drivers raced out of the parking spaces, indicating that the whole race would be extremely intense. Menick, who was second on the grid, tried to overtake on the first lap, but accidentally ran off the track and lost the opportunity. Darryl O’Young of Craft Bamboo Racing, the 2016 and 2008 season champion, was another “victim” of the “Assetto Corsa” simulation engine when his car skidded during the breakout and fell across the Behind the car array. The limitations of modern technology also affected other drivers, with Dorr Novena Racing Team’s Yuey Tan, AAS Motorsport’s Kantadhee Kusiri and Earl Bamber Motorsport’s Madeline Stewart each experiencing network connectivity issues that delayed their start .
In the chaos, Hoggard took advantage of the start to successfully throw off a group of opponents. In his hot pursuit are Modena Motorsports’ Benny Simonsen and Bunjong Motorsport’s Tanart Sathienthirakul. Subsequently, Simonsen and Sestiner got into a fight, which provided Hoggard with an excellent opportunity to expand his advantage. When entering the fourth lap, Hogard was already 3 seconds ahead of the second place. While Hoggard maintained his leading position, the confrontation among other drivers also began to heat up.
Darryl O’Young was clearly disappointed by the mishap at the start, but he quickly refocused his energy on his battles with Eric K of KiddyWorld Racing, Victor Blugeon of Team martinet by Almeras and Team Porsche Malaysia. In the contest of Benjamin Albano. The four drivers were evenly matched and maintained a slight gap in the next few laps.
In the end, Hoggard was the first to cross the finish line and led the second Simonsen by a full 8 seconds. Seistin took the third place with a difference of 4 seconds. Antares Au of the Modena Motorsports team, a frequent visitor to the Shanghai International Circuit, won the first place in the gentlemen’s class in the first round.
Cup rookie Johnathan Hoggard crossed the finish line in first place for last year’s dealership champion StarChase
In the second qualifying session, Jonathan Hoggard once again took pole position for the second round with a best lap time of 2:05.662. In the final race of the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia last year in Shanghai, the fastest lap in qualifying was 2:07.032. The second place is cup friend Cui Yue who made 2:06.005. This time he represented the Porsche Experience Team in the virtual race. The third place is Benny Simonsen who made 2:06.075.
The second race also started with Hoggard taking the lead, but the other drivers did not intend to let the cup rookie continue to rest easy. After the start of the race, Cui Yue attacked Hoggard several times, but the Chinese driver failed to overtake as he wished and instead fell to seventh place. Meanwhile, Simonsen moved up to second. Cooper Murray from the Bergwork Motorsport team, in order to make up for the regret of the first round, struggled to catch up to the third place.
Behind the first legion, the race for sixth to eighth place was held between three Thai drivers, namely Sestinna, Kusiri and AAS Motorsport’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak. The fight ended with Sestiner winning. The championship position became increasingly unpredictable in the second half of the game. Initially, Simonsen and Murray passed Hoggard to first and second, with the latter four seconds ahead of the young British driver. Simonsen then defended himself, refusing to give Murray any chance to overtake. The two drivers battled for a few laps with a one-second gap before Murray was out and Hoggard moved into second.
In the end, Simonsen won the second round of the race, Hoggard ranked second by less than a second, and Murray made his first virtual race podium in third. In the gentlemen’s category, Ou Tianjun won the category championship again, and Chen Youxian won the second place after overcoming the network problem. The 2019 gentleman’s championship, Bao Jinlong of the Zhengtong team, also ranked second due to network connection problems three.
Dorr Novena Racing driver Yuey Tan crossed the finish line and won the second place in the gentlemen’s class of the second round
