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Saturday 8th May,
Qualifying: Matthew
qualified in fourth position for round two of the series. The competition
in the Porsche Infineon Carrera Cup Asia is intense now: Rizal Ramli, who
won the opening round at the Malaysian Grand Prix in March took pole
position (again) from Brian Saunders. The 1994 Formula Asia champion has
now become used to the Porsche GT3 and is going very quickly. Charles Kwan
from Hong Kong was third quickest, just one-hundredth of a second ahead of
Matthew Marsh. It remained dry during qualifying though a little cloudy which also reduced the air temperature by a few degrees (to the low 30s) and track temperature by about 10 degrees (mid 30s) compared with the conditions at the Grand Prix.
Sunday 9th May, Races: A-Ha Racing won their first ever motor racing trophy on Sunday when Matthew Marsh finished second in the second round of the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia. It was a dramatic day of racing. In the first race Matthew took second place in the first corner by overtaking Charles Kwan and Rizal Ramli. A lap later he overtook Brian Saunders for the lead and began to pull away.
Just a lap later it all went wrong when Matthew lost control of the car and spun down to fifth place. He fought back to third and was then promoted to second when Ramli retired with a broken driveshaft. Thailand’s C. Nattavude, third place finisher in last year’s series, won the race.
Starting positions for the second race are taken from the results of the first, so Matthew had an unobstructed view of the first corner, with Nattavude alongside. The A-Ha car made the best start but Kwan did even better and the three leaders charged into the first turn together. Kwan and Matthew touched which sent the A-Ha car into the air.
“I feel I should have won both races,” said Matthew after the event. “The speed is there now and I am delighted to be able to race with people like Charles and Nattavude who are considered the best in the region. That’s a major step forward. Now I need to just reign in the confidence a little and not spin!”
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