New Zealand’s Craig Baird took victory last night in the 12-lap Porsche SC Global Carrera Cup Asia – Singapore 2012 on the Marina Bay street circuit. Second across the line, taking full championship points for the win, was Martin Ragginger of Team Eagle – Jiejun & Junbaojie, while championship leader Alexandre Imperatori of PICC Team StarChase was third. Class B winner was Seminole Racing Team’s Egidio Perfetti, his fourth class victory this season, with OpenRoad Racing’s Francis Tjia second, and Singapore racer Yuey Tan taking the final podium position for his Dorr McElrea Racing team.
Imperatori now has a 40-point lead from defending champion Keita Sawa of LKM Racing Team, who kept his title aspirations alive by taking points for fifth in the race having started from seventh on the grid after crashing in qualifying. Imperatori may be so close to the title he can taste it, but there will be no letup whatsoever from the 25-year-old and his team as they head to the season finale in November.
Baird, making a guest appearance for race title sponsor SC Global Developments, took his third victory on the challenging street circuit after a superb start from second on the grid, setting the fastest lap of the race for good measure. Pole-sitter Ragginger grappled with wheelspin before running wide and rejoining in the lead, but wisely handed the place back to Baird. From there, Baird was on a charge but Ragginger never let up, closing the gap lap-by-lap. Imperatori was running a strong third, but behind him the fight was on between Team Yongda Dongfang’s Benjamin Rouget in fourth, chased by Team Jebsen’s Rodolfo Avila and Sawa.
Despite the unforgiving nature of the Marina Bay street track, coupled with unrelentingly fierce competition right the way through the field, 24 of the 28-strong field finished the race, testament to the skill and talent of the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia drivers.
The 2012 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia championship titles, for both overall and Class B, will be decided at the season grand finale in Shanghai from November 9-11, at the inaugural Shanghai Sportscar Festival.
Results – Round 9
Pos
No
Driver
Class
Entrant
Time
1
3
*Craig BAIRD (NZL)
SC Global Racing (SIN)
29:51.627
2
86
Martin RAGGINGER (AUT)
Team Eagle – Jiejun & Junbaojie (CHN)
+0.685
3
99
Alexandre IMPERATORI (SUI)
PICC Team StarChase (CHN)
+1.404
4
20
Rodolfo AVILA (MAC)
Team Jebsen (HKG)
+1.622
5
98
TUNG Ho Pin (CHN)
Budweiser Team StarChase (HKG)
+2.701
6
1
Keita SAWA (JPN)
LKM Racing Team (HKG)
+2.862
7
8
Benjamin ROUGET (FRA)
Team Yongda Dongfang (CHN)
+3.427
8
37
Davide RIZZO (CHN)
BBT (CHN)
+3.927
9
6
*Massimiliano WISER (ITA)
BBT (CHN)
+4.240
10
9
*Philippe DESCOMBES (HKG)
Asia Racing Team (MAC)
+4.753
11
88
Egidio PERFETTI (SUI)
B
Seminole Racing Team (USA)
+5.212
12
78
ZHANG Da Sheng (CHN)
Team Basetex (CHN)
+8.236
13
21
Francis TJIA (HKG)
B
OpenRoad Racing (HKG)
+9.652
14
5
Yuey TAN (SIN)
B
Dorr McElrea Racing (SIN)
+10.584
15
16
Wayne SHEN (HKG)
B
Modena Motorsports (HKG)
+12.263
16
11
Ringo CHONG (SIN)
Team Kangshun (CHN)
+13.007
17
25
Christian CHIA (CAN)
B
OpenRoad By ART Motorsports (HKG)
+29.593
18
83
Dr. MA Chi Min (HKG)
B
Dr. Ma Chi Min (HKG)
+43.877
19
18
Marcel TJIA (HKG)
B
OpenRoad Racing by ART Motorsports (HKG)
+51.353
20
81
HUANG Chu Han (CHN)
B
Asia Racing Team (MAC)
+51.645
21
27
Adrian Henry D’SILVA (MAS)
B
Nexus Racing (MAS)
+52.132
22
55
*Marc CINI (AUS)
B
PS Racing (FIN)
+95.574
23
23
Paul TRESIDDER (AUS)
B
Hewlett Motorsport (NZL)
+96.875
24
68
MAK Hing Tak (HKG)
B
OMAK (HKG)
+97.284
–
96
LI Chao (CHN)
B
Asia Racing Team (MAC)
DNF
–
28
John SHEN (HKG)
B
Modena Motorsports (HKG)
DNF
–
66
Rose TAN (CHN)
Team C&D (CHN)
DNF
–
31
*Shim CHING (CAN)
B
PS Racing (FIN)
DNF
*Non series registered
Fastest Lap: Craig Baird/SC Global Racing/2:22.232/128.401kph
