Tang edges closer to the top after Sydney outing

SINGAPORE — He may have missed out on a victory in both the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia (PCCA) races in Sydney over the weekend, but it still proved to be a fruitful outing for Singaporean driver Andrew Tang as he made up significant ground on leader Maxime Jousse in the championship standings.

Tang started the race weekend strongly, posting the fastest time in the first practice, and qualified for the first race in fourth. Despite a good start in the first race at the Sydney Motorsport Park on Saturday, the 21-year-old narrowly missed out on a podium finish as he came in fourth.

Tang, who drives for the Porsche China Junior Team, went one better in the second race yesterday, making the podium after finishing third behind Absolute Racing’s Mitchell Gilbert and Thailand’s Vutthikorn Inthraphuvasak of Est Cola Thailand.

However, the Singaporean told TODAY he was not wholly pleased with the results over the weekend, especially after a crash in the second race disrupted his momentum and potentially cost him a chance of winning it.

“For the first race, we were all so close and I even managed to go up to second at one point, but after shuffling here and there, I fell back to fourth,” he said.

“But in the second race I managed to get a good start and was catching up with Gilbert, who was leading the pack at that time. But then Jousse made a crazy manoeuvre and ended up punting me off the track.

“As a result, my car suffered great damage and I was bumped down to sixth. But I still managed to fight back and finish third, which in the circumstances is a good result because I lost a lot of pace following the crash. Nonetheless, I feel a bit frustrated, because that accident took a potential win away from me.”

But there was a silver lining to Tang’s accident with Jousse, as the Frenchman was unable to complete the second race. This meant Tang managed to cut Jousse’s lead at the top of the championship to just six points, having initially entered the race weekend 16 points behind.

And with just four races to go to the end of the season, the top four drivers are only separated by a margin of eight points — Kamlung Racing’s Jousse leads with 138 points, followed by Gilbert of Absolute Racing (133), Tang (132), and Germany’s Nico Menzel of Team PICC (130).

With the next race set to be held in Singapore in two weeks’ time, Tang is hoping that home comforts can give him a winning advantage in his hunt for the PCCA title.

“Winning the races on home soil is something on my mind. I want to do my country proud,” said Tang. “But I don’t want to get too ahead of myself yet, I just want to make sure I’m as prepared as possible.

“It’ll be the first time racing on the Singapore track, in a street race, but I believe I’ll be well-equipped to handle the challenge.”