Audi R8 LMS Cup Press Release
· Yoong
takes win after pole-to-flag run
· Marchy
Lee extends points advantage in championship charge
· Jeffrey
Lee in superb run to take Amateur Cup honours
Zhuhai, September 15, 2012 – Audi GQ star Alex Yoong of Malaysia took a dominant
victory in Round 7 of the Audi R8 LMS Cup today, with a trouble-free
pole-to-flag run on the 4.3km Zhuhai International Circuit, setting the fastest
lap of the race for good measure.
Building an impressive
margin of 1.754 seconds from second-placed Marchy Lee of the Audi ultra team,
Yoong proved untouchable throughout the gruelling 21-lap race. KLM Team’s
Adderly Fong of Hong Kong was third, having pulled off a brilliant manoeuvre on
Team Erdos Xinan’s Sun Zheng after the 16-strong field roared off the grid.
All 16 Audi R8 LMS Cup
racing cars finished the race, a ringing endorsement of the reliability of Audi
technology under extreme conditions, and to the new long-life Michelin tyres.
Yoong got a perfect start
from pole, with Marchy giving chase, and Fong up to third from fourth on the
grid by the end of the opening lap. With Yoong determined to pull away,
Marchy kept his rival firmly in his sights closing the gap to 1.298 seconds
mid-way through the race. However, as Fong began to loom in his mirrors,
Marchy switched his priorities from winning to taking the all-important 18
points for second place.
David Zhu, making his Audi
R8 LMS Cup debut with Team Zhe Jiang Aotong finished a strong fourth, crossing
the line ahead of Sun Zheng.
For Jeffrey Lee, his
Amateur Cup was a convincing return to the series, and propelled him back to
the top of the Amateur Cup leaderboard. Having taken pole position in the
class, Jeffrey remained at the front of the pack to cross the line an
impressive sixth overall.
However, further down the
order the battle for the remaining category podium places was frenzied, with
Audi R8 LMS Cup driver Aaron Kwok initially holding firm from professional
racer Massimo Vignali, making his series debut with Audi Driving Dreams.
Professional Sun Chao
of the PD Group Team was on a charge, having been penalised two grid positions,
getting by Vignali and homing in on Kwok, blasting past with Vignali following
through in his wake and demoting the Hong Kong star down to 10th in
the order. Kwok was back up to 8th after a tussle between Sun
Chao and Vignali, but an error by Kwok saw the pair – plus rival Au – get by.
Despite losing a place to
Amateur Cup rival Alex Au after an excursion onto the grass, Kwok held on to
take a hard-earned final class podium position.
Marchy’s second place finish
increases his points advantage on the overall championship leaderboard to five,
ahead of Fong, but Yoong’s victory puts him very much back in the game in
third, 17 points adrift of Marchy – and closing.
Quotes after Round 7:
Alex Yoong (Audi GQ)
“I knew this was going to
be a tough race and it was going to be all about consistency. I needed to
get a good start and luckily I did, and then from there it was just to knuckle
down and be consistent. I didn’t even look at the lap boards until I had
a bit of a gap. Every lap, every corner I had to be on it until the last couple
of laps when (my rivals) eased up, and I did as well. The understanding
of the new tyres is what helped me more than anything today. I think I
understand them a bit better and know what they need.”
Marchy Lee (Audi Ultra)
“Actually, I’m leading the
championship and to keep that lead was the most important, so holding on to
second was crucial to this. Alex and I had the same pace and as long as
he made no mistakes, it was going to be difficult to win. Towards the end, I
started to push but I made some small mistakes and then I saw Adderly behind
me, so keeping second was most important.”
Adderly Fong (KLM Racing)
“I made a good start and
then after that it was just lap after lap of trying to be consistent.
Alex and Marchy had a bit quicker laps times than I did, so the gap started to
widen, but I think it was a consistent race for all three of us today.”
Jeffrey Lee (Pauian Archiland J-Fly Racing)
“During the 21 laps, nobody
made any significant mistakes, so it was difficult to catch up to them.
But I’m thrilled to take the Amateur Cup win!”
Round
7 – Results
No
|
Comp No
|
Name
|
Class
|
Entrant
|
Time
|
1
|
8
|
Alex
YOONG (MAL)
|
Audi
GQ
|
34:06.983
|
|
2
|
1
|
Marchy
LEE (HKG)
|
Audi
Ultra
|
34:08.737
|
|
3
|
68
|
Adderly
FONG (HKG)
|
KLM
Team
|
34:10.637
|
|
4
|
6
|
David
ZHU (CHN)
|
Team
Zhe Jiang Aotong
|
34:26.067
|
|
5
|
33
|
SUN
Zheng (CHN)
|
Team
Erdos Xinan
|
34:34.341
|
|
6
|
7
|
Jeffrey
LEE (TPE)
|
Am
|
Pauian
Archiland J-Fly Racing
|
34:39.380
|
7
|
9
|
WANG
Jian Wei (CHN)
|
Team
Betterlife
|
34:45.441
|
|
8
|
27
|
Massimo
VIGNALI (GBR)
|
Audi
Driving Dreams
|
35.03.567
|
|
9
|
77
|
SUN
Chao (CHN)
|
P
D GROUP Team
|
35:03.908
|
|
10
|
23
|
Alex
AU (HKG)
|
Am
|
AK
Racing
|
35:07.547
|
11
|
88
|
Aaron
KWOK (HKG)
|
Am
|
Team
Audi R8 LMS Cup
|
35:17.752
|
12
|
99
|
TIAN
Li Ying (CHN)
|
Team
Chengdu New Elements
|
35:39.400
|
|
13
|
66
|
ZHANG
Ran (CHN)
|
Am
|
Audi
Castrol
|
35:45.599
|
14
|
3
|
Hugues
RIPERT (HKG)
|
Am
|
Spark
Motorsport
|
1
Lap
|
15
|
13
|
Adrian
FU (HKG)
|
Am
|
FuSpeed
Racing
|
1
Lap
|
16
|
75
|
Eric
HSIANG (TPE)
|
Am
|
J-Fly
Racing Team
|
1
Lap
|
(AM)
Amateur Cup Competitor
Fastest Lap: Alex Yoong/Audi
GQ/1:36.796/158.809kph
Audi
R8 LMS Cup Official Website at: www.audir8lmscup.com
