Asian Motor Sports

Team Jebsen and Darryl O’Young have clinched the 2006 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia title after two dominant victories at ZIC in China.

The 26-year-old Hong Kong ace was crowned after title rival Shinichi Yamaji of Tomo Racing came to grief after an incident early on in the second of the 12-lap races. His 13th place finish put pay to his championship aspirations.

Second in the penultimate round of the season was Cref Motorsports’ Keita Sawa, with
Yamaji’s team mate, just as he was in the first race, while Kazuyuki Nishizawa was third.

Indeed, O’Young was overjoyed to have clinched the title even before the final race of the season at the Macau Grand Prix next month.

“It’s been a long, tough year,” he said. “I’d like to thank God. My thanks also to Team Jebsen, who have been great. It’s an amazing feeling to be champion. I feel sorry for what happened to Mr. Yamaji as it would have been great to race him all year.

“But it is a good feeling to go to Macau without the pressure of winning the championship, and I’m really looking forward to it. My congratulations to Sawa and Nishizawa who really kept the pressure on. It was a great race!”

O’Young had already strengthened his chances of taking the 2006 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia championship title with a convincing pole-to-flag victory in the first of the two races, by increasing his margin over Yamji to 16 points, the Japanese driver having only been able to finish in third in that race before throwing his chances away in the second.