From 20-22 October, the finale of the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia 2023 season was held at Shanghai International Circuit. As the grand finale of the Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific 2023 season, the weekend also hosted the finale of the Porsche Sports Cup China and Porsche Sprint Challenge China. Adding to the excitement, a trio of racing legends were on site to witness the proceedings: Mr. Le Mans himself Jacky Ickx; Pike's Peak record holder, 24 Hours of Le Mans, Nürburgring and Spa champion Romain Dumas and Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific Selected Driver Yifei Ye.

Florian Latorre takes home another win and the season championship.

Round 13 began with an unusual sight. For the first time ever this season, the best time in qualifying didn’t go to Meidong Racing’s Florian Latorre. The points-leader has picked up every available pole position point this season besides this very final one. Starting the season’s penultimate race was Team Shanghai Yonda’s Chris van der Drift, currently third in the season points. The second spot in the grid was occupied by Pro-Am season-champion-elect, Zheng Tong Auto’s Bao Jinlong, earning himself the highest Pro-Am start in Carrera Cup Asia history – another series record Bao Jinlong can add to his unprecedented four Pro-Am championship titles. Second in the points table, TORO Racing’s Luo Kailuo started the race in p3, with Latorre in p4.

The lights extinguished, and van der Drift made a characteristically strong start. Latorre managed to slip into second out of the grid, with Team Porsche Holding’s Martin Ragginger moving up into p3.

Bao Jinlong had a less-than-ideal start, going long on the fourth corner of the first lap and dropping down a few spots. Bao Jinlong managed to hold on to Pro-Am lead, but with Porsche Beijing Central & Goldenport’s Zhou Bihuang and TORO Racing’s Eric Zang just behind him. The three drivers settled into a rhythm, and finished the race in this same order. Bao Jinlong’s first place win doesn’t affect his already-secure championship. Zhou Bihuang’s second place finish however means he is now officially the second-place Pro-Am finisher this season.

BD Group’s Yang Ruoyu moved up a spot to p9 from his p10 start on the first lap, still several places ahead of his category rivals Kiddy World Racing’s Eric Kwong in p14 and R&B Racing’s Wu Jiaxin in p15. Yang Ruoyu spent most of the race far away from his category rivals and finished the race in a respectable p10 overall. A bit of misfortune late in the race saw Eric Kwong go wide on lap 11, losing a few spots, and opening space for Wu Jiaxin and Z.SPEED Motorsport’s Li Xuanyu to finish in Am second and third respectively.

Latorre kept hot on van der Drift’s heels as the two out front began to build up quite a lead over p3, growing to a 14 second gap by the final lap. Latorre’s hunger for victory never abated, however van der Drift is an old pro when it comes to Shanghai International Circuit, and the Kiwi driver rarely makes mistakes. van der Drift finished the race in first, with Latorre crossing the finish line just over one second behind him, sealing a second-place win and the season championship in one fell swoop. With just 26 points remaining in the season, Latorre’s 32 point lead sees him crowned the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia 2023 season champion with a race in hand. As if that wasn’t enough, Latorre’s fastest lap time of 2:06.698 set a new Carrera Cup Asia record on Shanghai International Circuit. The third spot on the podium was occupied by Ragginger.

Luo Kailuo earns a lights-to-flag victory in the final race of the season

The series goes into the final round with the three driver category champions already secured. But as every motorsport fan knows, the race isn’t over until the final flag waves.

Luo Kailuo started the race on pole, followed by Pro-Am champion Bao Jinlong, with Chris van der Drift in third. At the end of Round 13, van der Drift pulled ahead of Luo Kailuo in the season points table, taking second-place with an 11-point lead, making this starting line up a crucial one.

Reigning Am champion Yang Ruoyu started the race in p9. With just 7 points separating them, Eric Kwong, Wu Jiaxin and Li Xuanyu started the race in p12, 13 and p15 respectively, promising a thrilling battle for the remaining spots on the Am podium. Eric Kwong’s championship chances were dealt an early blow, with the Kiddy World Racing driver spinning out on lap 1 and dropping all the way down to dead last. Am champion elect Yang Ruoyu also ran into some trouble on lap 4, spinning out and dropping down the grid. This led to a late-season flourish from Li Xuanyu, who held strongly onto his position, eventually winning the Am category and with it taking second-place in the season championship. Eric Kwong’s early trouble took him out of contention, leaving space for Wu Jiaxin to finish in fourth place, giving him enough points to occupy the third season championship podium place.

The Pro-Am category had the top three season podium positions secured by the end of Round 13, with Bao Jinlong taking the championship, Zhou Bihuang coming in second, and Eric Zang in third. The top three Pro-Am drivers were therefore racing purely for glory in the final race of the season. With Bao Jinlong way out in front, and both Zhou Bihuang and Eric Zang battling against each other further down the grid, Pro-Am driver Team C&D’s Hong Shijie had his best race of the season, spending much of it sandwiched between Pro drivers, and eventually finishing the race in Pro-Am p2 and overall p7, just one spot behind Bao Jinlong. Team BetterLife’s Li Chao also had a strong race, finishing in Pro-Am third and p11 overall.

Luo Kailuo had a solid start, making it clean out of the gate and building up a lead by the end of lap 1. Bao Jinlong had a similarly strong start, with the Pro-Am champion holding on to his p2 starting position for the majority of the race, despite a furious assault from van der Drift behind him. Bao Jinlong and van der Drift are old friends and former team mates, with the two drivers being very familiar with each other’s driving style. Their two-car battle raged until lap 10, when van der Drift managed to pull ahead with some slick manoeuvring. By this point in the race, Luo Kailuo had built up a 5-second lead, and comfortably crossed the finish line first. However, it wasn’t enough to seal the second spot on the championship podium. van der Drift took home the second place finish, and with it the second place in the season championship, with Luo Kailuo coming in third. Florian Latorre started this race as the 2023 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia season champion, and finished the race in third overall, with the final race of the season essentially amounting to 13 victory laps for the series’ first ever French Champion.

Meidong Racing secure the Porsche Dealer Trophy 2023

Following a thrilling season, the champions of the Porsche Dealer Trophy have been announced. Thanks to Florian Latorre’s stunning debut season, Meidong Racing will be taking home the prestigious Porsche Dealer Trophy 2023 having finished the season on an impressive 286 points. Coming in second with 273 points are Team Shanghai Yonda, who took some time to find their feet this season, before their driver Chris van der Drift began mounting a comeback around the mid-season point. Having fought valiantly all season, TORO Racing are walking away with a third place finish, a mere 2 points shy of Team Shanghai Yonda’s second-place-winning score.

Porsche Sprint Challenge China finale sees a season champion crowned

Rounds 5 and 6 of the Porsche Sprint Challenge China were held on Saturday and Sunday respectively. Driving a 911 GT3 Cup in the GTC class, TORO Racing’s Min Heng took home the first win of the weekend, finishing a full 12 seconds ahead of BD Group’s Hu Bo, with Shanghai Yonda 69 Racing’s Ke Yang coming in third. In the GT4 class, Climax Racing’s Yuanlin Yu took the Round 5 victory in a 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport. For the final race of the season, Team Shanghai Pudong & Waigaoqiao 69 Racing’s Jeffrey Zee took home a first place finish and with it the GTC season championship, with Min Heng coming in second and Hu Bo picking up a third-place finish. In the GT4 class, Archer Wu, driving for Porsche Holding SilverRocket Racing, took home the win with Yuanlin Yu becoming the GT4 season champion with his second-place finish.

Looking back on 2023 and ahead to 2024

The weekend brought the Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific one-make season to a close. This year saw the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia celebrate its 20th anniversary season and the Porsche Sports Cup China celebrate five years on the track. There have been a total of 20 Rounds of racing action, 10 thrilling race weekends and six countries visited across Asia. “We have held an incredible year of one-make racing,” said Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific Ltd. Senior Manager One-Make Series Ms. Boya Qi. “And we look forward to another great season in 2024 and the return of the F1 China Grand Prix. We will have 16 races in total, including two F1 support races and two thrilling street races. The excitement has already started to build, and we can’t wait to see all our drivers, teams, friends and fans there!”