Race Report - PCCA - Rounds 9 & 10 - Singapore GP

StartFragmentThe Porsche Carrera Cup Asia came to Yuey's home ground at the Singapore GP for rounds 9 & 10 of the 2011 season. Being the highlight of the PCCA calendar and Yuey's season, the whole world looks forward to this fantastic night race that its Formula 1's first.

The atmosphere surrounding the Singapore GP was simply electric, as the hundreds of thousands of fans surrounding the circuit flocked in for this massive event. The Porsche Carrera Cup was featured in the latter part of the afternoon on all three days, screaming through the streets of downtown financial district Singapore.Practice started well for the SIngaporean driver as things got underway. 

"The practice was spot on!" commented Tan. "The setup off the get go was good and we really didn't have to make too many adjustments apart from adapting the new tyre to the car. Leigh did a fantastic job with everything from the start of the weekend!" in regards to his race engineer.

A red flag came out mid session with Wayne Shen unfortunately in a practice blunder on the unforgivable concrete walled circuit.

After the flag, the Porsche's went back out as Tan set his fastest time in the second half of the stint."We were just spending the session getting to know the Singapore circuit again and where we could push," continued Tan. "So as the session went longer, it was natural that all of the drivers would naturally progress throughout the session."

Qualifying came mid afternoon on Saturday and things were good in the McElrea Racing paddock. A top 10 qualifying seemed demanding and difficult though this was the target. Things went according to script though Tan managing a 12th quickest time which put the car on the 6th row of the grid. The team was satisfied with the result.

Race 1 started off well though Tan was a little disadvantaged going into T1, losing a position though it was still a competitive drive keeping him in 13th overall through a majority of the race. Unfortunately on lap 7 after hitting a curb, the tyre was damaged forcing an early retirement for the Singaporean driver.

Upon being asked what Yuey thought after the race, he said, "Tomorrow we are going to have to start off the back. It's not ideal but that's racing. It was a tyre that retired us and that is just the way it goes sometimes."

"So in race 2, the plan will be simple. Get past as many cars as I can."

This is what Yuey did.

Sunday came and the Singaporean driver started down the order 22nd on the grid. The warm up lap saw Tan get plenty of heat into the front and rear tyres to try and make a good start.

The start was good from Tan, as he launched himself up the grid in a very busy first lap. This saw the Singaporean jump from 22nd to 14th by the time he got to the next lap. As the race settled down, he also got past Philip Briandet and took a few more laps to get through the highly experienced Hong Kong driver, Alain Li.

Next to overcome was Singapore's most experienced race driver, Ringo Chong though the safety car was brought out with another accident for Wayne Shen.

In the final lap of the race, Anthony Liu and Mok Weng Sun had a coming together, allowing Chong and Tan to pass them, with Yuey finishing in 11th place."The race was pretty eventful that's for sure. Had a bit of contact with Keith Vong though it was a racing thing and we spoke after the race."

"Passing the cars in the first few laps was good for me and things seemed to work out which I was happy about, something passing several cars into a corner so the first lap was happy. Going after Philip Briandet was challenging and he put up a good fight for a while which was enjoyable. Managed to finally get him on turn 7 after the long straight. Alain was also difficult though he made a small mistake between turn 23 and turn 24, allowing me to get a good run into turn 1 and make the pass there. We went down the straight really close and it was good racing."

The Porsche Carrera Cup Asia hosts its final round of the season at the Shanghai International Circuit in China on October 21-23.EndFragment