From 15-17 September, the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia 2023 season made its long-awaited return to Marina Bay Street Circuit for the Singapore Grand Prix. As well as holding Rounds 11 and 12, the weekend also saw the announcement of the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia 2024 season calendar, with President & CEO of Porsche China Mr. Michael Kirsch onsite to add some gravitas to the occasion.
Despite his untouchable qualifying times, Latorre has had a run of bad luck when it comes to starting races, frequently losing his position right out of the gate. However, this wasn’t to be the case in Round 11, as Latorre made a very strong start, immediately putting a few car lengths between himself and Luo Kailuo behind him.
Bao Jinlong, however, had an unlucky start from his Pro-Am pole position. The three-time Carrera Cup Asia Pro-Am champion dropped down to p9 from his p7 start, leaving space for TORO Racing’s Eric Zang to take the lead.
A clash early on in the race led to the safety car coming out on lap 3. The race restarted, however disaster struck again with Porsche Beijing Central & Goldenport’s Zhou Bihuang exiting the track and Shanghai Pudong & Waigaoqiao 69 Racing’s Jacky Wu also running into trouble, leading to a second safety car coming out. Once the second safety car had left the field there were only seven minutes remaining on the clock.
Latorre once again had a strong restart. Luo Kailuo was nipping at his heels, however with the scant time remaining on the clock there just wasn’t enough room for him to overtake. Having seemed like he was on a comeback in the latter half of the season, van der Drift maintained his p3 position for the whole race until the penultimate lap, where a misjudged corner saw him careen into the barriers and drop down two positions. An experienced driver, van der Drift was able to recover, however his p3 position was swiftly taken up by Porsche Holding’s Martin Ragginger, with van der Drift eventually finishing the race in p4. Latorre took the win, with Luo Kailuo coming in second and Ragginger in third.
Round 12 began with what is becoming a regular starting line-up. Latorre in pole, Luo Kailuo just behind him, and van der Drift starting in third. Bao Jinlong led the Pro-Am pack from his p6 starting position, while Yang Ruoyu once again led the Am pack from his p7 starting position.
After yesterday’s clean getaway, it was chaos out of the grid for Round 12. Latorre managed a smooth start, with Luo Kailuo in hot pursuit. Bao Jinlong’s start didn’t go to plan however, and he lost the lead to Eric Zang. Yang Ruoyu made a strong start, however things started to go wrong for the Am points-leader on lap 2, dropping all the way down to p16, where he would remain for the remainder of the race. Having achieved a podium finish in the previous Round, John Shen ran into trouble early on in the race, causing the safety car to come out on lap 3.
As the safety car left the track, Latorre made a clean getaway, instantly putting some distance between himself and the rest of the Pro drivers behind him. With Luo Kailuo being slowed down by having to fend off repeated attacks to his rear from van der Drift, Latorre had a smooth finish to his race, coming in first with a more than 7-second lead. Luo Kailuo finished in second, and van der Drift in third.
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