Saturday, November 10, 2012

Mortara takes maiden Audi R8 LMS Cup victory


Audi R8 LMS Cup Press Release

·         DTM ace Edoardo Mortara tops the podium in Shanghai
·         Marchy Lee takes second sending championship down to the wire
·         Jeffrey Lee clinches Amateur Cup in penultimate round

Shanghai, November 10, 2012 – DTM ace Edoardo Mortara clinched a thrilling victory this afternoon in the penultimate round of the Audi R8 LMS Cup at the Shanghai International Circuit. Audi Ultra’s Marchy Lee was second, giving him enough points to take a narrow five point lead in the overall championship points’ standings over Adderly Fong. Fong of the KLM Racing team took the chequered flag in an impressive third place after fighting his way up through the field from ninth on the grid. The Amateur Cup title was sealed by Pauian Archilland J-Fly Racing’s Jeffrey Lee.

After the wet conditions of qualifying, this afternoon’s race saw all 16 drivers take the rolling start on Michelin’s innovative dry weather tyres. Pole sitter Alex Yoong got a clean start but succumbed to the charging Mortara on the opening lap of the race. Marchy Lee promptly pounced on Yoong, constantly putting the Malaysian ace under pressure until taking him for second place.


Fong also had a storming start, pushing past Aaron Kwok in the Audi R8 LMS Cup car on the first of what was to be 18 laps of scintillating racing. By lap seven, Mortara had Marchy Lee hot on his heels, Fong and Yoong were locked in battle and Kwok and AK Racing’s Alex Au were challenging for Amateur Cup title honours.

Competing for Audi Driving Dreams, this was Mortara’s debut race with the series and he had it far from easy with a spirited drive from Marchy Lee pushing him all the way to the chequered flag. Meanwhile, Team Erdos Xinan’s Sun Zheng had run wide on lap 13, letting Yoong and Fong past for third and fourth positions respectively, only for those positions to be reversed after an epic battle on lap 14 which saw Fong eventually win out over Yoong. Nevertheless, it was a strong drive from the Chinese driver Sun and he retained his fifth position all the way to the line to clinch 12 points ahead of Team Zhe Jiang Aotong’s David Zhu in sixth.

Pushing hard in his debut race meanwhile was Spark Motorsport’s Dino Crescentini. The American had started top of the Amateur Cup drivers on the grid. Although he lost places to the tussling professional drivers in the early stages of the race Crescentini went on to cross the finishing line in seventh, clinching maximum Amateur Cup points. Taking eighth and ninth places overall respectively was Wang Jian Wei of Team Betterlife and PD Group’s Sun Chao.

Next across the finishing line were the battling Jeffrey Lee and Alex Au in second and third places respectively in the Amateurs Cup and thus sealing Lee’s place as the Champion with one race still to run. Kwok took points for third place in the Amateurs Cup standings.

The final round of the Audi R8 LMS Cup takes place tomorrow (Sunday).


Quotes after Round 11:

Edoardo Mortara (Audi Driving Dreams)
“It was a difficult race overall. After passing Alex (Yoong), Marchy (Lee) was coming up to me quickly and I could see he had lots of pace. We then started really racing and we had some enjoyable moments where he came alongside and I thought he would pass but I was lucky to remain in first. I tried to leave him room when I made a couple of mistakes so I did not damage the championship result. I think tomorrow will be a really nice battle between the drivers for the championship and I will make sure I stay out of the game.”

Marchy Lee (Audi Ultra)
“Once I passed (Alex) and caught Edoardo we both had some really good racing moments.  He was fighting hard but always leaving space for me. He is a really experienced and good driver. Later on in the race we came up to some back markers and I have had a moment or two with them in the past so I was being extremely safe and careful about my overtaking. I then decided to save the tyres but saw Adderly (Fong) coming up in my mirror but I could see he was pushing hard and really using up his tyres, which is good for me. Overall it was really good today and racing with these gentlemen was very enjoyable.”

Adderly Fong (KLM Team)
“It was really difficult to get past Aaron (Kwok) and even more to get past Alex. I really don't remember all the overtaking in the race, apart from Alex's, because there was so much going on. Alex seemed to be struggling with his brakes and at one point I tried to get a slipstream (from Alex) down the straight but there's no real advantage at all. The closeness of the racing really goes to show how very equal all the cars are in this championship.”

Dino Crescentini (Spark Motorsport)
“What a nice day at the office! It was a lot of fun out on the track and I tried my best to just stay out of trouble. I had a lot of time and space to myself and I used that to learn more about the car and the track and prepare to do some battles tomorrow.”

Jeffrey Lee (Pauian Archilland J-Fly Racing)
“I don't think I looked in the rear view mirror so many times as I did today. I spent most of the race looking back. After qualifying I thought it would be an easier race, but Alex (Au) was getting quicker. I did ease off a little bit and then realised that Alex was catching me quickly. I thought that safety and protecting my position was the best thing to do.”

Audi R8 LMS Cup Official Website at: www.audir8lmscup.com


Round 11– Results

Pos
Comp No
Name
Class
Entrant
Time
1
27
Edoardo MORTARA (I) (G)

Audi Driving Dreams
32:59.987
2
1
Marchy LEE (HK)

Audi Ultra
33:04.559
3
68
Adderly FONG (HK)

KLM Team
33:07.465
4
8
Alex YOONG (MAL)

Audi GQ
33:13.443
5
33
SUN Zheng (CN)

Team Erdos Xinan
33:13.852
6
6
David ZHU (CN)

Team Zhe Jiang Aotong
33:33.038
7
3
Dino Crescentini (USA)
AM
Spark Motorsport
33:33.562
8
9
WANG Jian Wei (CN)

Team Betterlife
33:53.314
9
77
SUN Chao (CN)

PD Group Team
34:11.628
10
7
Jeffrey LEE (TPE)
AM
Pauian Archiland J-Fly Racing
34:18.720
11
23
Alex AU (HK)
AM
AK Racing
34:18.763
12
99
Massimo VIGNALI (I)

Team Chengdu New Elements
34:48.305
13
88
Aaron KWOK (HK)
AM
Team Audi R8 LMS Cup
34:54.978
14
66
ZHANG Ran (CN)
AM
Audi Castrol
+1 lap
15
75
Clifford CHEN (TPE)
AM
J-Fly Racing Team
+1 lap
16
13
Adrian FU (HK)
AM
FuSpeed Racing
+1 lap
(AM)      Amateur Cup Competitor
(G)          Guest Driver

Fastest Lap: Marchy Lee/Audi Ultra/1:48.965

Overall Classification (top 5)
1
Marchy LEE (HK)
204
2
Adderly FONG (HK)
199
3
Alex YOONG (MAL)
152
4
SUN Zheng (CN)
117
5
WANG Jian Wei (CN)
74

Amateur Cup Classification (top 5)
1
Jeffrey LEE (TPE)
172
2
Alex AU (HK)
141
3
Aaron KWOK (HK)
111
4
ZHANG Ran (CN)
106
5
Adrian FU (HK)
101