Porsche customers braved incredibly challenging conditions as heavy rain hit the Shanghai International Circuit for the second round of the 2021 GT Super Sprint Challenge, coming away with overall and class podium finishes in the Am-focused championship.

Absolute Racing’s Bian Ye claimed a fantastic pole position in his #3 Porsche 911 GT3 R, lapping the Chinese Grand Prix venue in 2:07.954. However, the Porsche Sprint Challenge China race winner spun when green flag running began in Race 1 following a Safety Car start.

Team-mate JZ Sun in the #13 made the best of the conditions, keeping his car on the road amid two further Safety Car restarts and rose from his fourth-place grid slot to second overall at the chequered flag. He backed up his speed by setting the fastest lap in Race 2 on his way to another Am+ podium, behind the third Absolute Racing entry of Li Chao who took second after a fifth-place finish in class in Race 1.

Bian Ye recovered from the rear of the field to 15th overall in Race 1 and 12th in Race 2. In the Am Masters category, Xiao Min drove two strong races to claim third and second onboard his #51 YC Racing previous generation 911 GT3 R (991.1).

In GT4, David Szu took second in Race 2 on his open championship debut in his Absolute Racing-run BD Group Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport, after finishing fourth in Race 1. This weekend marked his first event outside of the Porsche Sprint Challenge China, where David had proven himself as a podium finisher.

Yang Ke’s third place in the GTC class in Race 1 made sure Porsche was represented on the podium in each category, driving the 911 GT3 Cup (991.2) from 69 Racing Team. He followed it up with fifth in Race 2 ahead of TRT Racing’s Ray Lou.

Round 3 of the 2021 GT Super Sprint Challenge is on 1-3 October at Zhuzhou International Circuit.

Bian Ye, #3 Porsche 911 GT3 R: “The whole weekend was a learning process for me. Although the result was not ideal, I’m quite satisfied with my pole position on Saturday. In the first race after the Safety Car came in, I wanted to be aggressive and open a gap to the field but spun exiting the last corner. I didn’t have much chance to move forward after that as the Safety Car was constantly deployed. In Race 2, I was running an old set of wet tyres. The track dried up after a few laps and my tyres degraded quickly and I couldn’t cool them down. I chose to end my race early as the car was vibrating a lot in the last few laps.”

JZ Sun, #13 Porsche 911 GT3 R: “Overall, the weekend felt good. This was my first time driving a Porsche in Shanghai, I still don’t know much about the car. With a bit more preparation, we could be even more competitive. I enjoy this championship a lot, everyone here is a gentleman driver and it’s very important that we have fun.”

Li Chao, #910 Porsche 911 GT3 R: “I wasn’t very happy with my qualifying, as I could only start from 11th. The team did a very good job and I have to give them a lot of credit for my fifth-place finish in the second race.”

Alexandre Gibot, Managing Director Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific Ltd.: “First of all, well done to all of our customers for braving out the conditions which were some of the most challenging we have seen at the Shanghai International Circuit. The heavy rain was on and off all day, so it made it incredibly tricky to drive. To come away from this weekend with podium finishes in every class and the outright pole position is a very welcome return in the GT Super Sprint Challenge, which is still very early in its history as we’re on Round 2 of its inaugural season. We came here with seven cars and we hope to bring more in the races to come.”