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PICCA Round 1 - Sepang, Malaysia |
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[Click here to go to download page for high-resolution photographs] |
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Defence of title begins with a win at the Grand Prix! |
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Against the strongest field yet seen in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia A-Ha Racing scored a strong win at the opening round of the series. The race was the main supporting event for the Malaysian F1 Grand Prix. |
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Matthew was suffering from a stomach bug on the opening days of the meeting and, like many of the other drivers, struggled to find a way to maximise the higher performance levels offered by the new specification Michelin tyres. The 36-year old set the fastest time in the first practice session and the fifth fastest in the second. |
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In Saturday's qualifying session Rizal
Ramli set a new lap record to take pole-position with a 2:12.013 - almost a
second faster than Matthew in second place. These two were the only drivers in
the 2 minutes 12 seconds bracket. The strength of the field was demonstrated by
the next six drivers being covered by less than half a second, the order being: |
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The weather conditions for Sunday's race - held at midday and immediately before the F1 Grand Prix - were perfect: dry and very hot with air temperature of 38-degrees. On the warming-up lap the pole-position man damaged his clutch and was unable to engage first gear on the start line. The start was aborted and the field completed another warming-up lap, this time behind Matthew. |
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When the race, now reduced to nine laps, finally got underway Matthew made use of the clear track to quickly open a gap to the O'Young and the rest. He was helped by Albon assaulting Darryl in the first corner. By the end of the race Matthew was over 10 seconds ahead. Darryl finished three seconds ahead of Nattavude in third with Danny Watts just two-tenths of a second behind. |
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Rounds 2 and 3 of the series will be held at Sepang on 15th May. Matthew's next race is in a Porsche GT2 at Shanghai on April 10th. |
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