Franky Cheng has taken his first pole position of the Audi R8 LMS Cup 2015 and will start tomorrow’s Round 8 ahead of championship rival Marchy Lee of Audi Hong Kong Team. Cheng’s time of 2:07.298 was just a tenth of a second faster than Lee. Defending Cup champion Alex Yoong was third quickest in Superpole, which sees the top eight drivers from the first qualifying session compete in a shoot-out for pole position.
Current Drivers Classification leader Aditya Patel of Team Audi R8 LMS Cup was fourth quickest in Superpole. Swiss GT specialist Rahel Frey rounded out the top five. Korean Andrew Kim of E-Rain Racing Team was the only Amateur Cup driver to make it into Superpole and will start tomorrow’s Round 8 from eighth on the grid.
In the first 15-minute qualifying session, Lee set provisional pole, before being beaten by rival Cheng, whose time of 2:07.416 was just two-hundredths of a second better than Lee. The top four drivers were within four-tenths of a second of each other, once again showcasing the competitiveness of the series.
Audi Korea driver Kyong-Ouk You started off the nail-biting Superpole – an individual time trial launched for the 2015 season. With the top eight drivers competing in reverse order, Yoong, who had used three of his Push-to-Passes in the first qualifying session, used his remaining seven 10-second boosts in order to take provisional pole. Lee then beat Yoong’s time, despite locking up in the first corner and losing three-tenths of a second.
Now it was Cheng’s turn to shine and he stormed to pole position. While Cheng put in a strong lap, the Chinese driver admitted his Superpole attempt wasn’t perfect either and two mistakes left him wondering if he’d even be in the top three. However, his lap time was good enough to take his maiden pole position of the year.
Rounds 8&9 of the Audi R8 LMS Cup will take place Sunday at the Sepang International Circuit. Both races will be live-streamed on the official Audi R8 LMS Cup website at www.audir8lmscup.com (English) and on global Audi Sport platformwww.audi-motorsport.com (English) and on the websites of Cup media partners PPTV (Chinese) and LeTV (Chinese).
Audi R8 LMS Cup Official Website at: www.audir8lmscup.com
Superpole Round 8 – Results
1. 99/Franky CHENG/FAW-VW Audi Racing Team/2:07.298
2. 88/Marchy LEE/HKG/4R/Audi Hong Kong Team/+0.115
3. 1/Alex YOONG/MAL/Audi TEDA Racing Team/+0.471
4. 8/Aditya PATEL/IND/4R/Team Audi R8 LMS Cup/+0.842
5. 66/Rahel FREY/SUI/Castrol Racing Team/+1.0896
6. 11/Kyong-Ouk YOU/KOR/4R/Audi Korea/+1.501
7. 54/Thomas FJORDBACH/DEN/Federal-Mogul Motorparts Racing/+2.373
8. 5/Andrew KIM/KOR/E-Rain Racing Team/+2.594
Qualifying 1 Round 8 – Results
1. 99/Franky CHENG/FAW-VW Audi Racing Team/2:07.416
2. 88/Marchy LEE/HKG/4R/Audi Hong Kong Team/+0.027
3. 1/Alex YOONG/MAL/Audi TEDA Racing Team/+0.149
4. 66/Rahel FREY/SUI/Castrol Racing Team/+0.387
5. 8/Aditya PATEL/IND/4R/Team Audi R8 LMS Cup/+0.850
6. 5/Andrew KIM/KOR/E-Rain Racing Team/+1.631
7. 54/Thomas FJORDBACH/DEN/Federal-Mogul Motorparts Racing/+1.647
8. 11/Kyong-Ouk YOU/KOR/4R/Audi Korea/+1.660
9. 39/Stefano MONTESI/ITA/4R/Team Betterlife/+1.892
10. 7/Jeffrey LEE/TPE/4R/Team Audi Volkswagen Taiwan/+2.018
11. 6/Kimi QIN/CHN/SCC Sportscar Club/+2.152
12. 51/Johnson HUANG/TPE/Am/BC Racing/+2.776
13. 12/Alex AU/HKG/Am/CTVS Racing Team/+3.297
14. 84/LIM Keong Wee/SIN/Am/Tiger Racing Team/+3.448
15. 59/Daniel Bilski/AUS/Am/B-Quik Racing/+3.490
16. 34/Massimo VIGNALI/ITA/Am/Michelin Racing Team/+3.764
17. 38/Rick YOON/ITA/Team Chengdu New Elements/+4.796
2015 Audi R8 LMS Cup
Overall Classification after Round 7 – Top 10
1. Aditya PATEL – 80
2. Thomas FJORDBACH – 76
3. Franky CHENG – 68
4. Alex YOONG – 64
5. Rahel FREY – 44
6. Edoardo MORTARA – 42
7. Marchy LEE – 38
8. Jean-Karl VERNAY – 32
9. Kyong-Ouk YOU – 32
10. Stefano MONTESI – 32
Am Cup Classification after Round 7 – Top 5
1. Ashraff DEWAL – 106
2. Daniel BILSKI – 98
3. Alex AU – 74
4. Johnson HUANG – 71
5. Jacky YEUNG – 50
Team Cup Classification after Round 7 – Top 5
1. FAW-VW Audi Racing Team/4R – 100
2. Castrol Racing Team – 86
3. Team Audi R8 LMS Cup/4R – 80
4. Federal-Mogul Motorparts Racing Team – 76
5. Audi TEDA Racing Team – 65
