Alessandro Ghiretti put together a masterful weekend as Porsche Carrera Cup Asia (PCCA) visited Suzuka International Racing Course for Rounds 3 and 4 of the 2024 season, with the Team Jebsen driver winning twice from his pole position start.
Throughout the race, Pereira put Ghiretti under serious pressure, running nose-to-tail. Behind them, PCCA Talent Pool Presented by Michelin members Dylan Yip (Team Luanzhou International Circuit) and Mathys Jaubert (TORO Racing) were involved in a battle for the final spot on the podium, with the latter making an excellent move at the hairpin to clinch third.
Yip then came under pressure from a gaggle of cars behind, defending well from Martin Ragginger (Porsche Holding), and Rodrigo Dias Almeida (R&B Racing) before a late mistake dropped him down to ninth.
In sixth was Bao Jinlong, who also earned Pro-Am victory for Phantom Global Racing. Joining him on the podium were his Phantom Global Racing teammate Zhang Yaqi and Trans China Automotive Racing’s Francis Tjia.
Eric Kwong controlled the Am category for Bergwerk Motorsport, finishing ahead of Munkong Sathienthirakul (EBM Giga Racing) and Henry Kwong (Triple ACE Racing).
After the challenge faced in Round 3 by Nazim Azman (Sime Darby Racing Team) which brought out the Safety Car at the first corner, Sunday’s race took a more positive turn for the racer as he climbed up three spots from his starting grid position, finishing with the eighth fastest laptime across the grid.
For Ghiretti, Sunday’s race followed a similar pattern as he held the lead ahead of Pereira before an early Safety Car was sent out to clear the beached Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) of Yaqi, who had started on Pro-Am pole.
From the restart, Ghiretti created a gap and put in consistent lap times to clinch his third victory in the series in just four races. Pereira and Jaubert showed strong pace to keep the pressure on from behind, once again joining Ghiretti on the podium to keep up their strong starts to the 2024 season.
Bao continued his perfect start to the season, despite an incident at qualifying and obtained the lead podium spot for the Pro-Am category. Joining him on the podium was Chao and Tija.
The Am category was defined by a race long battle between Eric Kwong and Sathienthirakul, with the Thai driver constantly looking out to make a move for victory. However, he was unable to do so, meaning Eric Kwong kept up his fantastic start to the season, having taken all four wins so far.
Porsche Carrera Cup Asia returns for Rounds 5 and 6 of the championship on 14-15 June at Chang International Circuit in Thailand.