Yoong Takes Thunderous Audi R8 LMS Cup Victory to Stay in the Game
Audi R8 LMS Cup Press Release
· Yoong takes win after pole-to-flag run
· Marchy Lee extends points advantage in championship charge
· Jeffrey Lee in superb run to take Amateur Cup honours
Zhuhai, September 15, 2012 – Audi GQ star Alex Yoong of Malaysia took a dominant victory in Round 7 of the Audi R8 LMS Cup today, with a trouble-free pole-to-flag run on the 4.3km Zhuhai International Circuit, setting the fastest lap of the race for good measure.
Building an impressive margin of 1.754 seconds from second-placed Marchy Lee of the Audi ultra team, Yoong proved untouchable throughout the gruelling 21-lap race. KLM Team’s Adderly Fong of Hong Kong was third, having pulled off a brilliant manoeuvre on Team Erdos Xinan’s Sun Zheng after the 16-strong field roared off the grid.
All 16 Audi R8 LMS Cup racing cars finished the race, a ringing endorsement of the reliability of Audi technology under extreme conditions, and to the new long-life Michelin tyres.
Yoong got a perfect start from pole, with Marchy giving chase, and Fong up to third from fourth on the grid by the end of the opening lap. With Yoong determined to pull away, Marchy kept his rival firmly in his sights closing the gap to 1.298 seconds mid-way through the race. However, as Fong began to loom in his mirrors, Marchy switched his priorities from winning to taking the all-important 18 points for second place.
David Zhu, making his Audi R8 LMS Cup debut with Team Zhe Jiang Aotong finished a strong fourth, crossing the line ahead of Sun Zheng.
For Jeffrey Lee, his Amateur Cup was a convincing return to the series, and propelled him back to the top of the Amateur Cup leaderboard. Having taken pole position in the class, Jeffrey remained at the front of the pack to cross the line an impressive sixth overall.
However, further down the order the battle for the remaining category podium places was frenzied, with Audi R8 LMS Cup driver Aaron Kwok initially holding firm from professional racer Massimo Vignali, making his series debut with Audi Driving Dreams.
Professional Sun Chao of the PD Group Team was on a charge, having been penalised two grid positions, getting by Vignali and homing in on Kwok, blasting past with Vignali following through in his wake and demoting the Hong Kong star down to 10th in the order. Kwok was back up to 8th after a tussle between Sun Chao and Vignali, but an error by Kwok saw the pair – plus rival Au – get by.
Despite losing a place to Amateur Cup rival Alex Au after an excursion onto the grass, Kwok held on to take a hard-earned final class podium position.
Marchy’s second place finish increases his points advantage on the overall championship leaderboard to five, ahead of Fong, but Yoong’s victory puts him very much back in the game in third, 17 points adrift of Marchy – and closing.
Quotes after Round 7:
Alex Yoong (Audi GQ)
“I knew this was going to be a tough race and it was going to be all about consistency. I needed to get a good start and luckily I did, and then from there it was just to knuckle down and be consistent. I didn’t even look at the lap boards until I had a bit of a gap. Every lap, every corner I had to be on it until the last couple of laps when (my rivals) eased up, and I did as well. The understanding of the new tyres is what helped me more than anything today. I think I understand them a bit better and know what they need.”
Marchy Lee (Audi Ultra)
“Actually, I’m leading the championship and to keep that lead was the most important, so holding on to second was crucial to this. Alex and I had the same pace and as long as he made no mistakes, it was going to be difficult to win. Towards the end, I started to push but I made some small mistakes and then I saw Adderly behind me, so keeping second was most important.”
Adderly Fong (KLM Racing)
“I made a good start and then after that it was just lap after lap of trying to be consistent. Alex and Marchy had a bit quicker laps times than I did, so the gap started to widen, but I think it was a consistent race for all three of us today.”
Jeffrey Lee (Pauian Archiland J-Fly Racing)
“During the 21 laps, nobody made any significant mistakes, so it was difficult to catch up to them. But I’m thrilled to take the Amateur Cup win!”
Round 7 – Results
No | Comp No | Name | Class | Entrant | Time |
1 | 8 | Alex YOONG (MAL) | Audi GQ | 34:06.983 | |
2 | 1 | Marchy LEE (HKG) | Audi Ultra | 34:08.737 | |
3 | 68 | Adderly FONG (HKG) | KLM Team | 34:10.637 | |
4 | 6 | David ZHU (CHN) | Team Zhe Jiang Aotong | 34:26.067 | |
5 | 33 | SUN Zheng (CHN) | Team Erdos Xinan | 34:34.341 | |
6 | 7 | Jeffrey LEE (TPE) | Am | Pauian Archiland J-Fly Racing | 34:39.380 |
7 | 9 | WANG Jian Wei (CHN) | Team Betterlife | 34:45.441 | |
8 | 27 | Massimo VIGNALI (GBR) | Audi Driving Dreams | 35.03.567 | |
9 | 77 | SUN Chao (CHN) | P D GROUP Team | 35:03.908 | |
10 | 23 | Alex AU (HKG) | Am | AK Racing | 35:07.547 |
11 | 88 | Aaron KWOK (HKG) | Am | Team Audi R8 LMS Cup | 35:17.752 |
12 | 99 | TIAN Li Ying (CHN) | Team Chengdu New Elements | 35:39.400 | |
13 | 66 | ZHANG Ran (CHN) | Am | Audi Castrol | 35:45.599 |
14 | 3 | Hugues RIPERT (HKG) | Am | Spark Motorsport | 1 Lap |
15 | 13 | Adrian FU (HKG) | Am | FuSpeed Racing | 1 Lap |
16 | 75 | Eric HSIANG (TPE) | Am | J-Fly Racing Team | 1 Lap |
(AM) Amateur Cup Competitor
Fastest Lap: Alex Yoong/Audi GQ/1:36.796/158.809kph
Audi R8 LMS Cup Official Website at: www.audir8lmscup.com
Categories:
Audi R8 LMS,
Audi R8 LMS Cup
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