Ragginger on pole in hectic Porsche Asia qualifying

Martin Ragginger has secured pole position for both Porsche Carrera Cup Asia races in Sydney despite sitting in pit lane for most of qualifying.

The Austrian’s fastest lap (1:29.904s) sealed pole for Race 1 and also the joint Carrera Cup Asia/Carrera Cup Australia Pro race at the Red Rooster Sydney SuperNight 300 event.

With the drivers’ respective second-fastest laps determining the grid for Race 2, Ragginger also managed to take pole for Saturday’s second encounter with what was in fact the second-fastest lap of the session altogether (1:30.043s).

New Zealander Will Bamber claimed second, 0.2s off Ragginger’s lap, with Philip Hamprecht third after abandoning his late flyer around the 3.9km Sydney Motorsport Park circuit.

Hamprecht’s second-best lap did, however, get him onto the front row for the second race of the weekend.

The qualifying top five was completed by Cui Yue and Kiwi Chris van der Drift.

A handful of incidents staggered proceedings as the international drivers continued to acclimatise themselves with the circuit.

Yuan Bo had a wild moment at Turn 1, bringing out the red flag after the first 10 minutes.

The Chinese driver dropped off the road, bouncing through the gravel before spinning and ending up backwards on the track, fortunately avoiding contact with the wall.

A handful of drivers were forced to take to the grass in order to avoid the stricken car, with race control throwing a brief red flag period to clean up the debris as Bo made his way back to the pits.

Maxime Jousse set a 1:30.471s to jump to fourth, moments before a high-speed trip through the grass at Turn 1.

Wayne Shen also had trouble with a spin at Turn 4, while Mak Hing Tak ended up worse off, hitting the tyre wall after losing control on the grass between Turns 4 and 5 and spearing to the inside of the track.

Another red flag was thrown as the latter limped back to the pits with damage to the front of his car, until the green flag flew once again with under 10 minutes to go.

Shen once again found himself facing the wrong direction with another spin, this time on the exit of the final corner.

Both van der Drift and Hamprecht were on a charge late in the session but could not better Ragginger’s time.

Pro-Am went the way of Bao Jinlong, who finished less than a tenth ahead of Hong Kong driver Francis Tija.

Earlier in the day, Carrera Cup Asia were on track for a pair of 30 minute practice sessions.

It was Tanart Sathienthirakul that proved quickest in Practice 1, while Bamber managed to grab the fastest time in Practice 2.

Porsche Carrera Cup Asia will hit the track again on Saturday for Race 1 at 1105 AEST.

Starting grid: Race 1

Pos	Num	Team/Sponsor	Driver	Class	Fastest lap	Split
1	186	Team Porsche Holding	Martin RAGGINGER (AUT)	P	1:29.9044
2	112	Earl Bamber Motorsport	Will BAMBER (NZL)	P	1:30.1137	0:00.2093
3	199	Team StarChase	Philip HAMPRECHT (GER)	P	1:30.1799	0:00.2755
4	177	Team Jebsen	Yue CUI (CHN)	P	1:30.2819	0:00.3775
5	101	Team Formax	Chris VAN DER DRIFT (NZL)	P	1:30.4160	0:00.5116
6	166	AAS MOTORSPORT by Absolute Rac	Maxime JOUSSE (THA)	P	1:30.4191	0:00.5147
7	115	est cola PTT	Tanart SATHIENTHIRAKUL (THA)	P	1:30.8383	0:00.9339
8	188	Porsche Shanghai Waigaoqiao &	Bo YUAN (CHN)	P	1:30.9193	0:01.0149
9	159	Porsche China Junior Team	Daniel LU (CHN)	P	1:31.3808	0:01.4764
10	155	Zheng Tong Auto	Jinlong BAO (CHN)	A	1:32.0680	0:02.1636
11	121	OpenRoad Racing	Francis TJIA (HKG)	A	1:32.1192	0:02.2148
12	116	Modena Motorsports	Wayne SHEN (HKG)	A	1:32.3914	0:02.4870
13	109	Porsche Beijing Central & Gold	Chao LI (CHN)	A	1:33.1581	0:03.2537
14	162	Presido Jakarta Ban Racing	Ahmad F. ALAM (INA)	P	1:33.2953	0:03.3909
15	169	OpenRoad Racing	Christian CHIA (CAN)	A	1:33.4116	0:03.5072
16	128	Modena Motorsports	John SHEN (HKG)	A	1:33.5637	0:03.6593
17	178	True Visions Motorsports Thail	Suttiluck BUNCHAROEN (THA)	A	1:33.5948	0:03.6904
18	111	Earl Bamber Motorsport	Jeffrey CHIANG (TWN)	A	1:34.1394	0:04.2350
19	133	Modena Motorsports	Antares AU (HKG)	A	1:34.4565	0:04.5521
20	123	Paul TRESIDDER	Paul TRESIDDER (AUS)	A	1:34.6415	0:04.7371
21	198	KiddyWorld Racing	Eric KWONG (HKG)	A	1:34.6667	0:04.7623
22	117	Arrows Racing	Yui Sum FUNG (HKG)	A	1:36.0884	0:06.1840
23	110	Earl Bamber Motorsport	Graeme DOWSETT (SGP)	A	1:36.5660	0:06.6616
24	102	Prince Racing	Kenneth LAU (HKG)	A	1:36.8358	0:06.9314
25	122	LKM Racing	Yuk Lung SIU (HKG)	A	1:37.0560	0:07.1516
26	108	Racing Spirit Thailand	Sontaya KUNPLOME (THA)	A	1:38.1878	0:08.2834
27	168	Kamlung Racing	Hing Tak MAK (HKG)	A	1:38.5456	0:08.6412

Starting grid: Race 2

Pos	Num	Team/Sponsor	Driver	Class	2nd fastest lap	Split
1	186	Team Porsche Holding	Martin RAGGINGER (AUT)	P	1:30.0428
2	199	Team StarChase	Philip HAMPRECHT (GER)	P	1:30.2699	0:00.2271
3	166	AAS MOTORSPORT by Absolute Rac	Maxime JOUSSE (THA)	P	1:30.4715	0:00.4287
4	101	Team Formax	Chris VAN DER DRIFT (NZL)	P	1:30.4724	0:00.4296
5	112	Earl Bamber Motorsport	Will BAMBER (NZL)	P	1:30.5009	0:00.4581
6	177	Team Jebsen	Yue CUI (CHN)	P	1:30.8132	0:00.7704
7	115	est cola PTT	Tanart SATHIENTHIRAKUL (THA)	P	1:31.0436	0:01.0008
8	188	Porsche Shanghai Waigaoqiao &	Bo YUAN (CHN)	P	1:31.0442	0:01.0014
9	159	Porsche China Junior Team	Daniel LU (CHN)	P	1:31.4762	0:01.4334
10	155	Zheng Tong Auto	Jinlong BAO (CHN)	A	1:32.1852	0:02.1424
11	121	OpenRoad Racing	Francis TJIA (HKG)	A	1:32.4380	0:02.3952
12	109	Porsche Beijing Central & Gold	Chao LI (CHN)	A	1:33.2648	0:03.2220
13	116	Modena Motorsports	Wayne SHEN (HKG)	A	1:33.3473	0:03.3045
14	162	Presido Jakarta Ban Racing	Ahmad F. ALAM (INA)	P	1:33.4106	0:03.3678
15	178	True Visions Motorsports Thail	Suttiluck BUNCHAROEN (THA)	A	1:33.6909	0:03.6481
16	128	Modena Motorsports	John SHEN (HKG)	A	1:33.7038	0:03.6610
17	169	OpenRoad Racing	Christian CHIA (CAN)	A	1:33.7663	0:03.7235
18	133	Modena Motorsports	Antares AU (HKG)	A	1:34.4923	0:04.4495
19	198	KiddyWorld Racing	Eric KWONG (HKG)	A	1:34.7531	0:04.7103
20	123	Paul TRESIDDER	Paul TRESIDDER (AUS)	A	1:34.8299	0:04.7871
21	111	Earl Bamber Motorsport	Jeffrey CHIANG (TWN)	A	1:35.2805	0:05.2377
22	117	Arrows Racing	Yui Sum FUNG (HKG)	A	1:36.1116	0:06.0688
23	122	LKM Racing	Yuk Lung SIU (HKG)	A	1:37.0898	0:07.0470
24	102	Prince Racing	Kenneth LAU (HKG)	A	1:37.1351	0:07.0923
25	110	Earl Bamber Motorsport	Graeme DOWSETT (SGP)	A	1:37.7870	0:07.7442
26	108	Racing Spirit Thailand	Sontaya KUNPLOME (THA)	A	1:38.2310	0:08.1882
27	168	Kamlung Racing	Hing Tak MAK (HKG)	A	1:38.6308	0:08.5880