Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific customer teams scored five class podiums at the Shanghai round of the China GT Championship, with Team JRM taking two overall podiums, whilst R+ Racing and Moby Dick Motorsports Club earned a trio of top-three finishes in their respective classes.
Qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix venue saw Li Chao and Chris van der Drift storm to their first pole position of 2018 in the #911 Team JRM Porsche 911 GT3 R. R+ Racing’s #777 AM/AM GT3 entry, driven by Pan Chao and Li Jiaqi took fourth place overall in just their second race in the car.
In the GTC category, R+ Racing’s full-season Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car of Wang Tao and Wu Pei took fourth in class. The #307 was joined by a trio of cars from the Moby Dick Motorsports Club outfit, with the #9 and #7 machines placing fifth and sixth in class respectively.
JRM AM driver Li Chao, who started the #911 car from the front row, recovered from an early spin to enter the pit-stop phase in sixth place overall. Multiple Porsche Carrera Cup Asia champion Van der Drift took over, with the New Zealander carving through to run second at the chequered flag.
Jiaqi got the #777 entry’s race underway, running in an overall podium position in the early stages, before handing over to Pan Chao, who brought home the duo’s first AM/AM class victory. R+ Racing’s #307 GTC car ran strongly in the opening laps in the hands of Tao, eventually finishing sixth in class.
The Moby Dick Motorsports Club’s #9 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car took an impressive second place in GTC, after strong stints from Lawrence Liu and Porsche China Junior Driver Daniel Lu. Car #69, which started from the rear of the field, finished seventh in class in the hands of Jack Wu and Steve Yin, while the #7 entry of Simon Chan and Ben Rouget was an early retirement.
Starting Sunday’s second race from the outside of the front row, Van der Drift swept into an early lead, building a margin ahead of making a late mandatory pit-stop. Team-mate Chao rejoined the circuit in the lead, but had to settle for third after a valiant battle against professional drivers.
Jiaqi and Pan Chao continued their strong form, earning a second place finish in the AM/AM category aboard the #777 Porsche 911 GT3 R. R+ Racing’s GTC entry ran amongst the top-five in the early running, before adding further points to their championship tally.
The #9 Moby Dick Motorsports Club car ran seventh in the early stages with Liu at the controls, before Lu brought home a clean fifth-place finish in class. Rouget produced a good comeback in the #7 entry to finish seventh, with the #69 car choosing to retire.
Alexandre Gibot, Head of Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific, said: “We saw a number of strong performances from the teams running Porsches in both the GT3 and GTC classes at Shanghai. Both Li Chao and Chris van der Drift performed well across the weekend, highlighting why they’re championship front-runners. Despite it only being their second outing, Pan Chao and Li Jiaqi brought home good results, while the R+ Racing GTC entry also ran well. There were also some notable performances from the Moby Dick Motorsports Club cars across the weekend, with Porsche China Junior Daniel Lu bringing his experience from racing the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia.”
The next round of the China GT Championship sees the series head to the Wuhan Street Circuit (2-7 October).
