3 DRIVERS UP FOR PORSCHE CARRERA CUP ASIA CROWN

1 November 2007

With 40 points up for grabs in the two penultimate rounds of the 2007 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia season it is up to three drivers to keep their championship aspirations alive and prevent Briton Tim Sugden from clinching the title before the grand finale in Macau in November.

The GruppeM racer tops the Class A leaderboard on 170 points, with determined Japanese racer Keita Sawa (below left) of Cref Motorsports just six points adrift and Australian SCC Racing China driver Christian Jones (below right) only two points behind Sawa. Team Vertu’s Nigel Albon is still in with a shot at the championship, but the odds are against him with a 51 point gap from the leader.

With six wins in ten races, Sugden (left) travels to the Southern Chinese city of Zhuhai with the cards stacked in his favour, but both Sawa and Jones have proven to be worthy adversaries.

Throw into the mix reigning Champion Darryl O’Young of Team Jebsen, 2nd and 3rd in Shanghai last month, and fellow Hong Kong racer Marchy Lee, and the Briton may well not have things all his own way this weekend.

Australian Geoff Morgan (below left) is coming to the end of an impressive debut year in Class A and currently lies 5th behind Albon. Sri Lanka’s Malagamuwa (below right) is 6th ahead of Hong Kong’s Alain Lee who, racing this season with Sunseeker Asia, has proven time and again he has the pace and the talent, only for his ill luck to return in one shape or another throughout a frustrating season.

The Class A title chase may already be down to a four-horse race, but the situation is very different in the intensely-fought Class B for non-professional racers.

Singaporean newcomer Mok Weng Sun (below left) of Team PCS Racing tops the leaderboard in the category going to Zhuhai’s 4.3km track, but only four points separate him from Peter Boylan (below right) of Australia and Hong Kong’s William “Chip” Connor.

Also right in the championship fray is another Hong Kong driver Philip Ma (below left), who finished a superb fifth overall at the Chengdu circuit in September. Malaysia’s Tunku Hammam (below right) has bounced back from disappointment early on in the season, while Melvin Choo, the second Singaporean newcomer, is also in with a shot at the title in his debut year.

With the final round of the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia 2007 season to be held on one of the most demanding street circuits in the world, every driver will be looking to get as many points as possible under his belt before facing the ultimate challenge on Macau’s Guia Circuit in November. For Sugden, it would be huge relief to get the Class A title done and dusted this weekend, but there are plenty of talented drivers ready and able to stop him.