FastMotoring Motor News In Speed

Edoardo Mortara, the Audi DTM ace took his 4^th straight victory at the 59^th Macau Grand Prix, defending his Macau GT Cup crown with a masterful manoeuvre to stand atop the podium. Known as ‘Mr Macau’ for his successful dominance of the 6.2km Guia street circuit, Mortara competed with team Audi R8 LMS Cup in an Audi R8 LMS ultra, along with newly crowned Audi R8 LMS Cup Amateur Cup champion Jeffrey Lee.

Edoardo Mortara has twice won the Formula 3 Macau GP and also the current lap record holder. In the first of two qualifying sessions, Mortara found himself caught in traffic and could not do better than second in Friday’s session. A day later, however, Mortara found a completely clear lap, recording the fastest time of the two sessions with a 2:20.617.

Starting from pole position, Mortara dropped a place as the cars thundered off the grid. While Lucas di Grassi in a Ferrari 458 GT3 would later be penalized for jumping the start, at the time Mortara was solely focused on finding a way past his rival. The opportunity came on Lap 4, with Mortara getting by at the notorious Lisboa Bend to grab the lead.

Mortara held the lead as he stormed relentlessly towards the flag, even after the restart which followed a Safety Car period, ultimately winning his second straight Macau GT Cup, ahead of Alexandre Imperatori in a Porsche 911 GT3 R and Danny Watts in the McLaren MP4-12C GT3.

Meanwhile Lee continued to fly the flag for Audi in the regional GT Asia Series, for which the Macau GT Cup served as its final round. Lee put in a strong performance in the second qualifying session to find himself lining up on the fifth row of the grid. While Lee did not finish as high as he had hoped, the Chinese Taipei driver finished fourth overall in the GT Asia Series points standings, while the team finished fifth.

Rene Koneberg, the Director of Audi Sport customer racing in China commented, “We are thrilled to celebrate Edoardo’s second win with Audi in the Macau GT Cup at the Macau Grand Prix and bring the curtain down on a fantastic season of Audi customer racing China. I would also like to congratulate Jeffrey on a strong Audi season this year, first with his Amateur Cup title in the Audi R8 LMS Cup and a strong result in this year’s GT Asia Series.”

The two entries in the Macau GT Cup are part of the expanding reach of the Audi China motorsport programme. Rounding out the Audi R8 LMS ultra trio was Hong Kong’s Philip Ma with Team Hong Kong Racing, who finished 13th in the race.

Photo Gallery: Audi 2012 Macau GT Cup

Asia Racing Team will run a trio of Porsche 911s in the 2012 Macau GT Cup at the 59th Macau Grand Prix. Chinese driver and 2012 AAMC Trophy winner Li Zhi Cong will remain at the team for the GT Asia Series grand season finale, with Hong Kong’s Keith Chan and 2011 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia vice champion Rodolfo Avila joining him.

3 years after his first appearances in the streets of Macau with a single seater, Li Zhi Cong returns to Circuito da Guia but now driving a Porsche 911 GT3 R. Li Zhi Cong now lies second on the championship leaderboard heading into November’s season finale held as part of the Macau GT Cup. Keith Chan will take the seat of Sasha Chu, who raced in GT Asia Series events at Fuji and Autopolis, in his Porsche 911 GT3 R. The Hong Kong Gentleman Driver never raced a 911 GT3-R but he tested the car during the winter at Zhuhai.

The third driver is the well-known Rodolfo Avila from Macau. Supported by StarWorld Hotel the local hero will be driving a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, the same model he has been driving in the past three seasons in Porsche Carrera Cup Asia.

The official Audi R8 LMS Cup entry celebrated its first win of the season in the GT Asia Series, with a lights-to-flag victory in a wet Round 9 at Japan’s 4.673km Autopolis International Circuit.

The pairing of Hong Kong’s Marchy Lee and Jeffrey Lee of Chinese Taipei were at their best as the race programme for the penultimate rounds of the championship had to be changed at the last minute to accommodate the treacherously wet conditions. As a result, both Rounds 9 & 10 were moved to Saturday, with Marchy and Jeffrey celebrating their maiden win together in Round 9, before just missing out on a podium finish with fourth-place in Round 10.

The team now lies third on the championship leaderboard heading into November’s show-stopping season finale held as part of the Macau GT Cup at the 59th Macau Grand Prix.

As the countdown to the conclusion of the season began, the team wasted no time in pushing their Audi R8 LMS ultra to the limits. The team set the quickest time in free practice and, with changes to the race programme seeing those practice times become qualifying for Round 9, Marchy and Jeffrey took pole position.

Marchy maximised their pole advantage, fully utilising his experience and the Audi lightweight technology to pull a gap from the chasing pack. The pit stop and driver change went swimmingly, and Jeffrey roared the Audi R8 LMS ultra back into action, determined to strengthen the team’s lead.

Heavy rain had made the track difficult to navigate and with several cars spinning, the Safety Car was called out two laps later and remained in place for the duration of the race.

Round 10 was moved to Saturday in anticipation of worsening weather conditions on Sunday. On pole again after their Round 9 victory, Jeffrey took the first stint and got off to a strong start, but faced with furious competition, dropped down to fifth.

Following the driver change, Marchy set to work to fight back to podium contention. Demonstrating the speed and agility of the Audi R8 LMS ultra, Marchy set the fastest lap of the race on this charge. With too few laps remaining to catch the race leaders, Marchy did manage to make up a place before the flag.

Commented Director of Audi Sport customer racing in China, Rene Koneberg: “We are thrilled to be celebrating our maiden victory with the official Audi R8 LMS Cup entry in the GT Asia Series, and congratulations to Marchy, Jeffrey and the team for putting together such a strong performance in incredibly challenging track conditions. We have proved the performance and reliability of the Audi R8 LMS ultra in all conditions – not only by recording the fastest lap, but also through the stability and handling of the car in extremely wet conditions.”

Moving next, the Audi R8 LMS Cup entry is the GT Asia Series’ showcase Round 11 season finale as part of the Macau GT Cup at the 59th Macau Grand Prix in November.

Li Zhi Cong completed a superb weekend in Suzuka last Sunday, with his second win of the 2012 GT Asia Series championship. The young Chinese – who was 8th in the starting grid – stormed through the field in his Porsche 911 GT3 R prepared by Asia Racing Team to take a dramatic win in the second race of the weekend.

The Guangzhou native arrived in Suzuka with 80 kg handicap weight onboard and any knowledge of the track. Qualifying didn’t go smoothly as Li was only 6th in Qualifying One. The 19 year-old-driver improved his lap time in Qualifying Two but he overtook on yellow flags and got penalised, dropping three places on the Race 2 grid.

On Saturday afternoon Li picked up good points by finishing 4th in GT Asia Series Round 7, despite a drive-through penalty for pit-stop infringement. After a good getaway, Li managed to climb to the third position but the compulsory pit-stop was 0.2 of a second too short and the Asia Racing Team driver was penalized, and relegated to 4th.

But this is not time to give up. As the lights went out for Race 2 Li made an impressive start, and moved up to fifth. The Yumin Restaurant sponsored Porsche kept the strong pace and soon it was fighting for the lead. Li displayed his resilience and perseverance to overtake his opponent and win again.

Reflecting on his win, Li said, “The weekend was very hard for me because I had penalties in Race 1 and during the Qualifying. From Saturday race to Sunday race we removed 30 kg of weight so I got a better top speed and better performance. We have three races to go and I never raced in Autopolis. But I’ll keep pushing harder all the time and working with the team to achieve the best.”

Team Manager Philippe Descombes added, “We were very unlucky in the Race 1 pit stop. We got a drive through because we went less than 1 second too quickly out of the pit. It cost us a heap of time and a podium position. Li was great in Race 2. He made full advantage of a sensational start and a good move at the first corner, and then he managed his race perfectly. The fight for the championship will be very close until the last race and every point counts.”

Li currently leads the GT Asia Championship by seven points to Mok Weng Sun (Ferrari 458 GT3).

The GT Asia Series will continue with Rounds 9 & 10 held at the Autopolis International Circuit on 28-30 September before heading to be a part of the Macau Grand Prix at the Circuito da Guia for the Series’ Season Finale on 16-18 November.

The official Audi R8 LMS Cup entry reached the podium in Round 7 of the GT Asia Series, with the pairing of Shanghai-based Swiss Alexandre Imperatori and Jeffrey Lee of Chinese Taipei earning some crucial championship points in the two races at Suzuka Circuit. 

With regular partner Marchy Lee of Hong Kong away in Inner Mongolia for Rounds 7 & 8 of the Audi R8 LMS Cup in Ordos, exciting young talent Imperatori was drafted in to partner Lee as the two flew the flag for the Audi R8 LMS Cup in Suzuka. 

Qualifying got the weekend off to a strong start, with Imperatori recording the second fastest time of the first qualifying session in his Audi R8 LMS Cup ultra. Lee put in a strong performance in the second qualifying session, resulting in the team starting from the fourth row for the second race of the weekend.

With a third-place finish in Round 7 and a fifth-place finish in Round 8, Lee is now third in the championship standings, 19 points out of second place.

Imperatori started Round 7 from second on the grid and set off to catch the race leader and, in the process, set what would be the fastest lap of the weekend – a 2:05.390 – showing the speed and the benefits of Audi lightweight technology. 

After 10 laps, Lee took over driving duties and when the race leader got stuck in the gravel, Lee moved into the lead with six laps remaining.

Lee fended off the competition and kept the field at bay, but unfortunately on the last lap, the second-place driver made an overtaking manoeuvre and touched Lee. Both drivers spun, with Lee recovering to finish third and take the final podium position.

In Round 8, Lee started from seventh, holding his position on the 5.807-km circuit. However, the team’s podium hopes were challenged after a pit lane error resulted in a drive-through penalty. 

A determined Imperatori set off to work his way up the grid and made up a few crucial positions, before crossing the finish line fifth. 

An ideal platform to showcase Audi lightweight technology against other leading automotive marques, the GT Asia Series is further enhanced by a mandatory pit stop and Balance of Performance success ballast regulations.

Commented Director of Audi Sport customer racing in China, Rene Koneberg: “Although we had a bit of a challenge this weekend in Suzuka, there are also many positives. We were in the lead in Round 7 and only a bit of bad luck cost us the win, and a mega lap by Alexandre Imperatori in Round 7 proved to be the fastest lap of the weekend, showing the speed of the Audi R8 LMS ultra.” 

Rounds 9 & 10 of the GT Asia Series will take place in September, before the showcase season finale as part of the Macau GT Cup at the 59th Macau Grand Prix.

Photo Gallery: GT Asia Rounds 7 & 8 Round Up