Rookie Enzo Trulli and Carrera Cup veteran Dylan Pereira scored overall wins in the season-opening Shanghai round on Formula One’s support bill, as Wang and Zang trade Pro-am wins while Sathienthirakul and D’Silva win both races in AM and Masters respectively.
By Marco Albertini
Race 1: Trulli wins on series debut, on countback
On his first ever start in the series, Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Talent Pool’s Enzo Trulli started on pole and led at the start, as Dylan Pereira, who had started alongside him, went wide in turn two after being hit by Brock Gilchrist and was sent out of the podium positions as a result.
With Trulli maintaining his lead at the front and Pereira passing both Almeida and Gilchrist to return to second, a battle for third between the latter two and Hugo Ellis, which came to blows on lap four as the Brit tagged Almeida into a spin at the exit of the final hairpin.
Ellis then passed Gilchrist a lap later, which sent the Kiwi into the clutches of Josh Rowledge and Dylan Yip, but as Gilchrist defended from both, the Brit and the Hong Kong driver began battling for fifth position and were caught up by Bao Jinlong.
Bao, who had been leading in the Pro-Am class at the time, attempted to make a pass on Yip at turn 11 but locked up the tires and spun Yip in the gravel, and as a result the safety car was brought on track.
On the restart, Pereira was immediately on the attack, taking the lead from Trulli at turn 10 after a robust defense from the Italian, which ended with him being sent to the gravel as he was pushed wide by the Luxembourgish driver. As he rejoined the track, he briefly fell out of podium contention, but immediately overtook Brock Gilchrist to take back third and lined up an attack on Ellis at the hairpin.
With the attack on Ellis not working, Trulli was passed by Gilchrist after going side-by-side with the Kiwi for half a lap, and was then spun by Josh Rowledge at the same corner where Dylan Yip had his race come to an end.
As Trulli was hit by Bao Jinlong, who also collected Li Chao, the race was red-flagged and the results were taken from the end of lap 10, which meant Enzo Trulli inherited the win he had seemingly lost, ahead of Brock Gilchrist and Amer Harris Jefry.
Pro-Am was won by Wang Zhongwei ahead of Francis Tija and Li Xuanyu, while Am and Masters were won by Munkong Sathienthirakul and Adrian D’Silva, respectively.
Photo credits: Porsche Carrera Cup Asia
Race 2: Pereira leads from start to finish as Trulli retires early
In race two, Pereira led from the start as Trulli suffered mechanical issues from third place, which led to the safety car coming out on track as the Italian was stopped on the entry to turn one.
On the restart, Pereira maintained the lead from Brock Gilchrist and Dylan Yip, who fell to fourth after locking up in an attempt to defend third from Rodrigo Almeida.
With the race calming down since the restart, it would be near the end of the race where action began to build up again, as with two laps remaining, a three-way battle for second raged on as Brock Gilchrist tried to defend from Almeida, who attempted to force his way past, but to no avail as he was soon forced to defend from Hugo Ellis.
Having led from the start, Dylan Pereira won race two ahead of Almeida and Gilchrist, who was passed by the Mozambican with two corners left but still held off Ellis for third. Pro-Am was won by Eric Zang, who held off a hard-charging Bao Jinlong in the closing stages, while Munkong Sathienthirakul and Adrian D’Silva won Am and Masters respectively.
Photo credits: Porsche Carrera Cup Asia
Header image credit: Porsche Carrera Cup Asia
