In the final round of the 2018 China GT Championship from the Shanghai International Circuit, Team JRM and R+ Racing scored three podiums between them, with the Porsche customer teams collecting a number of points finished.
Seven Porsche entries were in action at the Chinese Grand Prix venue, with three Porsche 911 GT3 R and four Porsche 911 GT3 Cup from Team JRM, R+ Racing and Moby-Dick Motorsport Club.
In qualifying Team JRM’s #911 GT3 entry of Chris van der Drift and Li Chao went fastest but after a track-limits infringement were left starting from third place, with the #777 R+ Racing driven by Pan Chao and Zhang Da Sheng fourth and Min Heng and Lin Nan’s #991 Team JRM special-liveried ‘Pink Pig’ Porsche going fifth.
Daniel Lu and Lawrence Liu were third quickest in GTC on board the #9 Moby-Dick Motorsport Club car, ahead of the #307 R+ Racing Porsche.
Race one saw Chao take the start in the #911 Porsche, continuing to run inside the top-three before handing over to two-time Porsche Carrera Cup champion Van der Drift. The current PCCA leader closed the gap at the front to within half-a-second during his stint, but ran out of laps to challenge for victory and settled for second.
AM driver Pan Chao had a strong opening stint in the #777 R+ Racing car, running in P2 before handing over to Da Sheng. Despite being unable to hold off Van der Drift, the Chinese driver put in a strong performance to give his team a deserved podium in third.
Behind them, the #991 Team JRM Porsche also ran well, with drivers Heng and Nan bringing the ‘Pink Pig’ home in fifth overall and second in the AM/AM class.
The GTC field was highly competitive, with Porsche China Junior driver Lu and team-mate Liu battling hard on their way to fourth in class in the #9 car. Wang Tao and Wu Pei pitted late in the #307 as they looked to challenge the front-runners, eventually finishing fifth in GTC and second in AM/AM.
Heng and Nan gave the ‘Pink Pig’, which was clearly a fan favourite livery, another top-five finish in GT3, as well as runner-up in the AM/AM class. The #777 R+ Racing Porsche was a non-starter.
Going from fifth of the GTC runners, Tao and Pei celebrated another strong race to cap off the season, finishing fourth in class and second in AM/AM. Tao’s strong performance throughout the 2018 season with the #307 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup was rewarded with third in the championship. The #9 Moby-Dick Motorsport Club entry battled amongst the GTC front-runners throughout, with drivers Lu and Liu producing another strong performance to finish fifth.
Chris van der Drift, #911 Team JRM, said: “We have been fighting for victories all season, but we’ve not had as much success as last year, because of too many penalties. In the races we were really fast, especially in the first and the Porsche performed well throughout the weekend.”
Alexandre Gibot, Head of Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific, said: “It was a very positive weekend for Porsche at the Shanghai International Circuit. Seven entries and three overall podiums is great to see. Team JRM have been up there all year long and narrowly missed out on the victory in race one. The ‘Pink Pig’ was also very strong in the hands of its AM/AM driver duo so congratulations to them on their performance in their first season of GT racing – we look forward to seeing them return next year. It was fantastic to see R+ Racing on the podium as well and they have done very well all season in GT3 and GTC. Porsche China Junior Daniel Lu was back in action and showed his potential with some great drives on board the #9 Moby-Dick Motorsport Club Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, particularly in qualifying. Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific can be happy with that season finale and now the focus is on continuing to work over the winter.”
