The 20th anniversary season of the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia returned to Korea International Circuit for the first time since 2015. With newcomers staking their claim and veterans picking up the pace, the weekend delivered two rounds of passionate Porsche thrills.

Latorre earns his first Carrera Cup Asia victory in Round 3

Meidong Racing’s Florian Latorre took his third pole of the season with his time of 2:09.634, with Team Shanghai Yongda’s Chris van der Drift starting in second. Current points leader, TORO Racing’s Luo Kailuo, began his race in third. Pro-Am pole sitter Zheng Tong Auto’s Bao Jinlong started in p6, three spots ahead of Porsche Beijing Central & Goldenport’s Zhou Bihuang who started in p9, with TORO Racing’s Eric Zang starting third in p10. For the Am category, BD Group’s Yang Ruoyu was the pole sitter, starting the race in p11 – the very middle of the grid. Yang was followed by Kiddy World Racing’s Eric Kwong one spot behind him in p12, and Z.Speed Motorsport’s Li Xuanyu in Am third, beginning the race in p16.

The action began as soon as the lights extinguished, with van der Drift swiftly slipping into first on turn 1. Pole sitter Latorre had a disastrous start, losing three places and dropping down to p4. By lap 3, van der Drift had built up a 1.8 second lead ahead of Luo Kailuo. Having unceremoniously lost his first place spot, Latorre began a heroic comeback. With EBM Giga Racing’s Reid Harker slipping up on lap 2 and losing two places, Latorre began putting pressure on Luo Kailuo before overtaking him. For the majority of the remainder of the race, Latorre mounted a ferocious assault on van der Drift. The Kiwi driver put on an incredible display of defensive driving, however it ended up not being enough to deter Latorre, and the French driver retook his position at the front of the pack with just three laps remaining. Luo Kailuo was also able to take advantage of the melee ahead of him, and managed to overtake van der Drift on the final lap. The podium saw Latorre claim his first Carrera Cup Asia victory, with Luo Kailuo second over the line and van der Drift crossing third. However, a post-race, 5 second penalty pushed Luo Kailuo down into third place, handing the second-place finish to van der Drift.

Beginning his race in Pro-Am pole, Bao Jinlong became an immovable object in p6, simply refusing to let anyone pass him. Zhou Bihuang didn’t have as much luck with his race, spinning out on lap 1 and dropping down the grid. With Zhou dropping out of the action, this left space for Eric Zang and Trans-China Automotive Racing’s Francis Tjia to battle it out for Pro-Am second place. Zang and Tjia occupied p9 and p10 respectively, with two Pro drivers in between them and Bao Jinlong. The three drivers stuck rigidly to their positions, and finished the race with Bao Jinlong in first, Eric Zang in second and Francis Tjia in third.

With both Yang Ruoyu and Eric Kwong starting their race impressively high up the grid, it looked set for another easy win for the two Am category points leaders. However, it wasn’t meant to be. Both Yang Ruoyu and Eric Kwong had a bad start, with both drivers dropping down to near the very bottom of the grid. This opened things up for Li Xuanyu, who moved up into p11 from his p16 start and held his position until the finish line. Coming in second was Shanghai Pudong & Waigaoqiao 69 Racing’s Jacky Wu, followed by R&B Racing’s Wu Jiaxin in third.

Luo Kailuo back on top for Round 4

Round 4 began with Florian Latorre once again on pole, with the Frenchman having won every pole position so far this season. Luo Kailuo started in p2, with Reid Harker starting in p3. Due to exceeding track limits during qualification, Chris van der Drift started his race dead last in p21, meaning that the Kiwi driver had quite the struggle ahead of him.Bao Jinlong once again led the Pro-Am pack, starting in p6, with Eric Zang two spots behind him in p8, and Hong Shijie another two spots back in p10.Yang Ruoyu once again impressed during qualification, earning a p9 start at the head of the Am pack. Eric Kwong started his race in p11, another impressive starting position for the 2021 Am champion. Both Yang Ruoyu and Eric Kwong had a disappointing first race this weekend, so both drivers were looking to claw back some points this Round.

As the lights extinguished, Latorre had another disappointing start, losing his spot to Luo Kailuo on the first turn. From his p2 position, Latorre would spend the entire race attacking Luo Kailuo from behind, with the current points-leader driving defensively throughout. Bao Jinlong was also having a strong race, having moved up into p5, two spots ahead of his nearest Pro-Am rival Eric Zang in p7. Just behind Eric was Yang Ruoyu, leading the Am pack from p8 with Eric Kwong keeping a close eye on him from p10.

By this point in the race, van der Drift had already put in an astonishing performance, moving from his dead-last p21 starting position all the way up into p6 by the time the safety car came out. The Kiwi driver’s stunning performance saw him overtake 15 cars in just three laps, showcasing once again why Chris van der Drift is such a Carrera Cup Asia legend.

Korea International circuit’s 1.2 km-long straight between turns 2 and 3 is the longest straight on a FIA Grade 1 Circuit in Asia, and as one of the hardest braking points on the track it led to a contretemps between Team Jebsen’s Gao Yujia and Sime Darby Racing Team’s Nazim Azman that saw both drivers end their races. The safety car was brought out on lap 3, demolishing the half-second lead Luo Kailuo had built up by that point.

The Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo safety car left the track and the race restarted. Luo Kailuo made a clean break with Latorre hot on his heels, the two drivers separating from the rest of the pack for their own private battle out in front. Porsche Holding’s Martin Ragginger held on to his p4 starting position, while van der Drift slipped past Bao Jinlong to sit right behind Ragginger, with the two old rivals putting on a classic Carrera Cup Ragginger Vs. van der Drift battle.

Having driven defensively for the back half of the race, Luo Kailuo earned his third victory of the season, closely followed by Latorre just two-tenths of a second behind him, with Reid Harker occupying the third spot on the podium. Ragginger came in fourth, just ahead of van der Drift who came in fifth after his incredible comeback.

Bao Jinlong crossed the finish line first in the Pro-Am category, however a post-race penalty shunted him back 5 seconds, meaning that Eric Zang was the winner this race, with Bao still coming in second and Zhou Bihuang in third.

Yang Ruoyu managed to stay ahead of Eric Kwong, giving him the Am victory with Eric Kwong having to settle for second. Following his first race victory, Li Xuanyu took home third place in the Am category in Round 4.

TORO Racing continue leading the Porsche Dealer Trophy

TORO Racing are once again out in front in the Porsche Dealer Trophy. Luo Kailuo added another victory and a third-place finish to TORO’s tally, keeping them at the top of the table. Meidong Racing moved up a place thanks to Florian Latorre adding another win and second-place finish, while Team Shanghai Yongda slipped down a notch with only a single podium finish for Chris van der Drift. Porsche Holding are holding on to their fourth-place spot after a disappointing stop for Martin Ragginger that saw him end both races in fourth, just missing out on podium finishes. Tied for fifth place, we have Zheng Tong Auto and series newcomers Sime Darby Racing Team. With only four rounds completed, the series is still wide open with lots of potential for upsets and comebacks. TORO Racing have been putting in an impressive performance so far, but there is still plenty of time for the trailing talents to make their mark on the season.