O’Young’s Dramatic Debut at the legendary Nürburgring-Nordschleife

Two-time Porsche Carrera Cup Asia champion Darryl O’Young had a dramatic debut on Germany’s legendary Nürburgring-Nordschleife last weekend.  Representing the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia in the world’s first ever Porsche Carrera World Cup, which brought together 100 international GT specialists from 25 nations, O’Young fought back from an incident in qualifying to cross the line 40th. Said O’Young: “The circuit is everything they say it is – and more.  It is absolutely the greatest circuit in the world, and this has been a fascinating experience.”
The weekend began promisingly with O’Young’s Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, entered by Porsche China, 32nd quickest out of the 100-strong field. However, Qualifying was a different story when he fell foul of the unforgiving 25.388km circuit. Said O’Young:  “I locked up into one of the corners.  One second I locked up, the next second I was in the wall.  It just shows, you can’t make a single mistake on this circuit.  I managed to get the car back to pits, but it was so disappointing after such a great practice session.”
With O’Young’s preparation, practice and qualifying all held on a dry track, race day brought yet another challenge as the heavens opened. Starting from 92nd, he had his work cut out to make an impression in the wet race:  “I did the best I could in the race.  Conditions were phenomenally different at every turn so I was very cautious at the beginning, but then I pushed harder and harder and every lap I went quicker.  I have never passed 52 cars in a race in my life before!” 
René Rast won the inaugural Porsche Carrera World Cup. In a gripping duel for victory on the time-honoured track, the German put in a strong drive for his VELTINS Lechner Racing squad, relegating his Austrian team mate Norbert Siedler to second place with a gap of 1.9 seconds. Third place went to Germany’s Lance David Arnold driving for the Motopark Oschersleben team. The inaugural Porsche Carrera World Cup was a huge success. Drivers raved about the challenge of one of the world’s most beautiful race tracks, as well as the excellent organisation of this record-breaking event and fans experienced one-make racing at its best. “I’m absolutely thrilled,” said Matthias Müller, Chairman of the Board at Porsche AG, who visited the Eifel race with other board members. “I’ve only heard positive things from the race drivers, and we’re already fielding the first questions about doing it again. As far as I’m concerned I don’t see why not, but we should order better weather.” Wolfgang Hatz, Board Member for Research and Development, added: “I was particularly fascinated to see 100 of these wonderful Cup-911s competing and the incredibly exciting fight at the front. And all this under extremely difficult conditions. It was unparalleled. The images that we’ve sent around the world are certainly unique.” 
Supporting the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia are two of the most recognised names in international motorsport, Mobil1 and Michelin. Mobil and Porsche have been partners since 1996. Close co-operation in research and development has led to every new Porsche engine being filled with Mobil1 high-performance lubricant. Porsche Carrera Cup Asia drivers also have the advantage of racing on cutting-edge tyres supplied by series partner Michelin. The consistent performance and leading technology of Michelin tyres constantly improve the performance of many teams in international motorsport. The partnership between Michelin and the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia has emerged from a worldwide agreement signed between Porsche AG and the Michelin group.
The Porsche Carrera Cup Asia is organised and promoted by Malaysian based Motorsport Asia Ltd.