Zhuhai. Team Jebsen’s Rodolfo Avila was the quickest man out on track today during qualifying for Rounds 4 and 5 of the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia, the Macau driver taking pole position for both races of the weekend with a  lap of 1:37.197 at the 4.3km Zhuhai International Circuit. 

The 30-minute session began in the dry, the field of Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (Type 991) cars shod with slicks for the first time this weekend following torrential downpours during free practice, but just over five minutes before the flag, the heavens once again opened. That thwarted the best efforts of Avila’s closest challenger, Martin Ragginger of Team Porsche Holding, who was on his quick lap on new tyres when rain clouds once again burst. The Austrian will line up alongside Avila for the start of both 12-lap races.

Third overall fastest in qualifying was PICC Team StarChase driver Alexandre Imperatori, just 0.222 of a second shy of the pole setting time in the close-run session, while China Junior Development Programme driver, Zhang Zhen Dong of Team Basetex, put in a superb performance to line up fourth for Round 4 and third for Sunday’s Round 5, switching positions with Imperatori.

Zheng Tong Auto’s Zhang Da Sheng will start Round 4 from fifth on the grid after a strong showing, alongside Budweiser Team Absolute Racing’s Tung Ho-Ping, who starts Round 5 from fifth.

Class B pole-sitter for both Rounds 4 and 5 is young Malaysian hotshot Alif Hamdan of Nexus Racing, continuing his stunning form in his second Porsche Carrera Cup Asia season. Dorr Havelock Racing’s Yuey Tan of Singapore was second quickest in the category followed by OpenRoad Racing’s Francis Tjia of Hong Kong.

Avila was thrilled to be on pole at a track he considers his second home:  “It’s very good to be on pole. Once in a while we can drive pretty fast here!  Although I have to say the lap was not great as I made a lot of mistakes. I’m quite surprised we managed a low 37, but disappointed I couldn’t make a

36. Now we need to focus on this afternoon. I’m feeling relaxed and quite confident in the wet now. Yesterday [in the wet] I felt confident once I went out, so a wet or dry race is OK for me. It’s not going to be easy and I’ll have to fight for it – I need to cope well with the pressure and not make mistakes. Normally racing is very close here, but that’s what we’re here for and we’re going to give it our all.”

Said Ragginger, who had taken provisional pole position early on in the session: “We set the fastest lap on our first set of tyres, but waited too long and the rain caught us so we couldn’t improve on the second set.  [If the session had ended] two minutes later I would have done my fastest lap as I was on my fast lap. In the end it’s OK for the championship race as we’re on the front row again. If it stays wet it’ll be tricky for everyone.”

With uncertainty over the weather being the talk of the paddock pre-session, Hamdan was thrilled he and his team made the right tyre choice: “This pole came with its own set of challenges as everyone was guessing what the weather would do. It played out right for us as towards the end of my second set of slicks it started to rain, so we got it right. The team is doing a brilliant job of setting up the car and I’m working closely with the engineer. My only concern if it’s a wet race is that it’s quite difficult to get these powerful cars off the line, even with wet tyres.”

Wet or dry, the upcoming Porsche Carrera Cup Asia races will be guaranteed to provide the Pearl River Delta Region fans with plenty of action.

Porsche Carrera Cup Asia – Round 4 Qualifying

*Non series registered

** Car 51 – 5 place grid penalty for causing a collision in free practice session

Porsche Carrera Cup Asia – Round 5 Qualifying

*Non series registered