Mitchell Gilbert came through an eventful Carrera Cup Asia race to claim his second victory as he took advantage of a crash from championship leader Maxime Jousse.
Fresh from his win at Sydney Motorsport Park yesterday, Australian racer Gilbert stormed into the lead from second on the grid, ahead of Martin Ragginger and Andrew Tang, while pole-sitter Jousse dropped to fourth.
Gilbert quickly opened up a 1.3s lead before he ran wide at the final corner which brought him closer to the chasing pack behind.
However, the complexion of the race changed on lap 4 when Jousse tried an audacious move at Turn 2.
The Frenchman made contact with Tang that pushed him wide, which in turn helped Ragginger into a spin. The move was to be investigated by stewards after the race.
Jousse was promoted to second as he set his sights on Gilbert who started to struggle for pace in his Absolute Racing entry.
On the following lap Jousse slipped into the lead with a move on Gilbert, who locked up at Turn 8.
Meanwhile, Tang slumped to sixth and Ragginger dropped to 12th position behind the charging Nico Menzel, who started from the back of the grid.
Once in front, Jousse opened up a 4.3s lead over Gilbert before drama struck on lap 11 when he ran off the road and into the tyre wall at Turn 10.
The incident saw Gilbert inherit the lead which he held until the chequered flag to clean sweep the round.
A strong run from Class B runner Vutthikorn Inthraphuvasak saw the Thai driver climb to second at the flag, while the recovering Tang secured the final spot on the podium.
Tang was challenged for the spot on the penultimate lap by Ragginger at Turn 2, which resulted in the Austrian suffering his second spin at the corner.
As a result, the hard charging Menzel came through to finish fourth as Ragginger just pipped China’s Yue Cui to fifth by 0.006s in a drag race to the flag.
Yuan Bo was set for a strong finish inside the top six before a mechanical issues saw him retire in the closing stages.
Meanwhile, Xi Wang’s eventful weekend continues as he suffered three spins throughout the 16-lap journey.
The Carrera Cup Asia field will feature in two combined races with Carrera Cup Australia competitors later this afternoon to round out the championship’s Australia visit.
Result: Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Race 2
1 | Absolute Racing | Mitchell Gilbert (AUS) | Porsche GT3 Cup | 16 | 25:12.8405 |
2 | est cola Thailand | Vutthikorn Inthraphu THA | Porsche GT3 Cup | 16 | 25:15.2273 |
3 | Porsche China Junior Team | Andrew Tang (SGP) | Porsche GT3 Cup | 16 | 25:19.2770 |
4 | PICC Team StarChase | Nico Menzel (DEU) | Porsche GT3 Cup | 16 | 25:20.6459 |
5 | Team Porsche Holding | Martin Ragginger (AUT) | Porsche GT3 Cup | 16 | 25:26.3765 |
6 | Team Jebsen | Yue Cui (CHN) | Porsche GT3 Cup | 16 | 25:26.3771 |
7 | Team Jebsen | Yuey Tan (SGP) | Porsche GT3 Cup | 16 | 25:29.9075 |
8 | OpenRoad Racing | Francis Tjia (HKG) | Porsche GT3 Cup | 16 | 25:30.7143 |
9 | Modena Motorsports | Wayne Shen (HKG) | Porsche GT3 Cup | 16 | 25:30.7921 |
10 | Fun88 Team Sunfonda | Da Sheng Zhang (CHN) | Porsche GT3 Cup | 16 | 25:33.7072 |
11 | Zheng Tong Auto | Jinlong Bao (CHN) | Porsche GT3 Cup | 16 | 25:40.2199 |
12 | True Visions Motorsports Thail | Buncharoen Suttiluck THA | Porsche GT3 Cup | 16 | 25:49.3539 |
13 | OpenRoad Racing | Michael Soeryadjaya IDN | Porsche GT3 Cup | 16 | 25:49.5405 |
14 | Modena Motorsports | John Shen (HKG) | Porsche GT3 Cup | 16 | 25:50.6532 |
15 | Team Betterlife | Chao Li (CHN) | Porsche GT3 Cup | 16 | 25:55.3799 |
16 | RC Racing | Tiger Wu (TWN) | Porsche GT3 Cup | 16 | 25:55.9346 |
17 | Paul Tresidder | Paul Tresidder (AUS) | Porsche GT3 Cup | 16 | 25:58.9207 |
18 | LKM Racing | Yuk Lung Siu (HKG) | Porsche GT3 Cup | 16 | 26:39.7306 |
19 | Racing Spirit Thailand | Kumplome Sontaya (THA) | Porsche GT3 Cup | 16 | 26:40.6550 |
20 | Arrows Racing | Billy Fung (HKG) | Porsche GT3 Cup | 15 | 26:09.9120 |
21 | Team Formax | Xi Wang (CHN) | Porsche GT3 Cup | 13 | 25:38.0359 |
DNF | Absolute Racing | Bo Yuan (CHN) | Porsche GT3 Cup | 14 | 22:33.0353 |
DNF | Kamlung Racing | Jousse Maxime (FRA) | Porsche GT3 Cup | 10 | 15:37.1546 |