Yuey Tan: We were hoping for a little more!
Rounds 4 & 5 of the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia were held over the weekend at the Zhuhai International Circuit for the third race meet of the season. Dorr Havelock Racing driver, Yuey Tan went to Zhuhai with high hopes of closing the gap to Class B championship leaders but came up a little short, finishing 4th in the only race of the weekend.
“It was a tough race weekend for many teams I reckon,” reflected Tan. “With ever changing weather conditions and a load of rain, things went up and down. On one hand, I think the result could’ve been much better but on the other hand, I’m still happy to pick up 14 valuable points and still be in the championship hunt!”
After a shaky start to the season in Sepang, Tan scored a helpful amount of points in Shanghai, hoping to continue his good form at Zhuhai. Practice was in heavy rain starting Friday morning, with the weather putting water on the circuit throughout the day, though this didn’t spook the 32 year old Singaporean as he managed a lap time that put him 2nd quickest in category for both practice sessions in the rain.
Qualifying saw the PCCA have its only dry running session of the race weekend, where Tan showed some fantastic pace in the dry only 1.4 seconds off pole position sitter, Rodolfo Avila. He managed to set his fastest lap on his 2nd set of tyres at the very end of the session, arguably his best lap of the season so far.
“Qualifying made the team and I very happy. For us, I think it was the best session so far this season. The setup was bang on and Minal engineered a perfect car for that moment. It was really pretty awesome! The only thing we could’ve done is push harder as I think there was more in the car than even I thought.” continued Tan. “Unfortunately the session was stopped a little early as it started to rain at the end of the session. If not, I think we still could have gone quicker!”
Race 1 saw more rain fall from the skies, casting a doubt on whether the race would take place though eventually, the race director opted to start under the safety car for the first two laps of the race. It was an experienced decision to call a safety car start with a lot of water spray coming off the cars reducing driver vision and increasing the risk of a massive first corner incident. The race continued in treacherous conditions in an action packed race that saw Wayne Shen just ahead of Tan, with Shen losing it in the first lap of the race, with cars continuing to lose grip as the race progressed. Tan spent much of the race in 3rd place with a healthy gap though four laps from the end, Peter Li lost his car on T12 and out came the safety car once more.
“We were happy to see the safety car for the start, for all the drivers I’m pretty sure. It was a matter of safety and we couldn’t see a thing! The second safety car however wasn’t really something I wanted to see as unfortunately, Henri Ricard took advantage of the situation in a questionable manner. Though it’s a long season and many races to go.”
Race 2 on Sunday afternoon was cancelled, a first cancellation since Tan joined the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia in 2008 due to heavy rain.
“The cancellation works for some and not for others. Im sure there is going to be some debates as to how the situation should be handled. Originally they said that they’d be a make up race at Sepang, though now things seemed to have changed.”
“The guys that need more points and expect themselves to be higher than they are will be annoyed. The guys cruising ahead in the championship not so much. Let’s see what happens!”
Watch the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia rounds 6 & 7 on June 6 – 8 at Mt Fuji, Japan for the PCCA’s first visit to one of Asia’s greatest motorsport nations.
