Asian Motor Sports

The 2006 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia was crowned off in fine style at the annual Macau Grand Prix weekend with perhaps the finest race of the season, an event dominated by newcomer Danny Watts.

Second was Cref Motorsports’ Keita Sawa, earning an impressive podium finish in his Macau debut, while Tomo Racing’s Shinichi Yamaji held on to third from a determined Darryl O’Young, the newly-crowned champion.

Watts got away well from pole, but the drama began almost immediately when his team mate and 2004 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Champion Matthew Marsh ran wide at the first turn, hitting the barrier and spinning back in to the field.

The hard-charging drivers desperately tried to avoid Marsh, but Dilantha Malagamuwa, Hong Kong’s Alain Li and Yamaji’s team mate, Kazuyuki Nishizawa became involved in the incident and their race ended there. Max Chen was also involved, but managed to continue briefly until the damage he had sustained forced him to retire.

The Safety Car was called out as marshals cleared the wreckage, and the field, led by
Watts, closed up behind. The Safety Car remained out for three laps and, when it pulled away, Watts masterfully controlled the field behind him before plunging ahead to pull out an immediate gap to Yamaji.

As Watts took off into the distance, at one point lapping the 6.2km circuit more than one second quicker than the second-fastest man on the track, an epic battle was ensuing behind him with Sawa looking to find away past his fellow countryman.

His chance came in the run down to Lisboa where, in a superb overtaking manoeuvre, he dived on the inside and then firmly closed the door on Yamaji to maintain the optimum line into the tight right-hander and grab second.

Behind him, Yamaji, Thailand’s Vutthikorn Inthraphuvasak and Team Jebsen’s O’Young continued the fight. O’Young piled on the pressure, desperate to grab a podium finish from Yamaji and made his move on the penultimate lap, touching the barrier. Like Sawa, O’Young dived on the inside down towards Lisboa, but ran wide and Yamaji regained the position.

However, the battle didn’t end there, with the 26-year-old Hong Kong racer making one last ditched attempt in the final run to the chequered flag, but the Japanese ace was not willing to concede the final podium place to his rival.

It was British Porsche Carrera Cup regular Watts though who was celebrating, winning from pole position by a comprehensive eight seconds. Making the most of his experience from racing single seaters around the unique circuit, the GR Asia driver was thrilled with his win.

“I love coming back here and look forward to it all year,” he said. “I wanted a win at Macau on my CV, and hope this will lead to bigger and better things. I’d like to thank the Noble Group, and also all the people in Macau. I always have a great time here, and it’s all thanks to you.”

Sawa, meanwhile, was exhilarated after the race. “It’s unbelievable, fantastic! I have tried to be consistent this weekend, and it was most important to keep my championship position. It’s my first time in Macau and I wanted a podium. It really is unbelievable. I want to thank my sponsors, and all the people who have supported me this weekend.”

In Class B, it was Ricardo Proost who took the win, ahead of Hong Kong’s Philip Ma and Peter Boylan.

“Winning in Macau is my dream,” said Proost. “I spun twice in the race. The first time, I had an incident with Max (Chen) and I spun and Peter (Boylan) got by me. When the Safety Car pulled off, I collided with Akira (Hirakawa) and spun again and everyone got past me. So, I had to do it all again. At the last corner, I passed Philip on the outside.” (Source)