O’Young grabs pole on Audi R8 LMS Cup debut‏

O’Young grabs pole on Audi R8 LMS Cup debut

·         Darryl O’Young on pole after close-run qualifying

·         Marchy Lee steals chase on fellow title-contender

·         Jeffrey Lee impresses with Amateur Cup pole

Shanghai, October 27, 2012 – Making his Audi R8 LMS Cup debut, FIA World Touring Car Championship regular Darryl O’Young of Hong Kong took pole position by a whisker from championship leader Marchy Lee of the Audi Ultra team.  Third quickest was fellow title contender, Adderly Fong of KLM Team, with the top three separated by a little over a tenth of a second.

Another impressive outing from Pauian Archiland J-Fly Racing’s Jeffrey Lee saw him take pole in the Amateur Cup, setting the fifth fastest overall time.  Second quickest Amateur Cup driver was Alex Au of AK Racing, following by lady driver Zhang Ran of Audi Castrol.

Having run both free practice sessions on the tyres used for the Zhuhai meeting last month, all 16 Audi R8 LMS racing cars were shod with a fresh set of the innovative new Michelin high-performance and long-lasting tyres.

While O’Young, who is standing in for series regular Alex Yoong this weekend at the FIA World Endurance Championship-supporting event, is no stranger to the car having won the famed 12 Hours of  Bathurst in the Audi R8 LMS in February, he is driving it for the first time at the Shanghai International Circuit.  While O’Young began the session cautiously, seeking the limits of the new tyres, he shot to the top of the time sheets mid-way through the session.  He kept bettering his lap time before deciding to pit to conserve his tyres.

It was Sun Zheng of Team Erdos Xinan who initially topped the times followed by Kevin Chen of the J-Fly Racing Team who, like O’Young, is making his series debut this weekend and impressed by topping both free practice sessions on Friday.

However, Sun was gradually demoted down the order as O’Young took provisional pole, and Chen went quicker. 

Fong found his rhythm and shot up to second behind O’Young, before Marchy Lee’s best time of 2:08.191, less than a hundredth of a second off pole, came dramatically late in the session but put him alongside the pole-sitter for the start of Round 9. 

Sun Zheng will start from the third row of the grid alongside Jeffrey Lee, ahead of David Zhu of Team Zhe Jiang Aotong, who is contesting just his second weekend of sportscar racing, and newcomer K.O. You of Audi Korea.

Hugues Ripert of Spark Motorsport had an unlucky session, with a broken gearbox meaning he was unable to get in a qualifying lap.

Although it was a dry session, the rain started to fall as qualifying came to a close, with the gathering clouds opening the possibility of a wet race later today.

Quotes after Round 7 Qualifying:

Darryl O’Young (Audi GQ)

“I’m very happy to be back in the car!  Bathhurst was the last time I drove the Audi R8 LMS, but it felt comfortable right away.  This is the first time in the car for me in Shanghai, and the hardest part is getting used to the tyres, learning how they work and what the limit is.  I got quicker as the session went on, but decided to pit as I thought I’d done enough.  I didn’t realize it would be that close!”

Marchy Lee (Audi Ultra)

“My tyres were overused in Zhuhai as we had two such tough races.  The quickest I managed in free practice was sixth, which made it quite hard to find the set up.  For me, this weekend is all about points.  Darryl is not in championship contention, so points are my focus.”

Adderly Fong (KLM Team)

“This is my third time at Shanghai International Circuit, and I’m getting more confident now.  The times are really close, and both Darryl and Marchy are really good, experienced drivers.  I’m not used to driving this car here yet, so I’m really pleased with how the session went.”

Jeffrey Lee (Pauian Archiland J-Fly Racing)

“The session was about getting used to the car.  We had technical problems yesterday, so I’m very happy with this result.”

Audi R8 LMS Cup Official Website at: www.audir8lmscup.com

Round 9– Qualifying

Pos	Comp No	Name	Class	Entrant	Time
1	8	Darryl O’YOUNG (HKG)		Audi GQ	2:08.098
2	1	Marchy LEE (HKG)		Audi Ultra	+0.093
3	68	Adderly FONG (HKG)		KLM Team	+0.121
4	75	Kevin CHEN (USA)		J-Fly Racing Team	+0.524
5	7	Jeffrey LEE (TPE)	Am	Pauian Archiland J-Fly Racing	+1.175
6	33	SUN Zheng (CHN)		Team Erdos Xinan	+1.356
7	6	David ZHU (CHN)		Team Zhe Jiang Aotong	+1.596
8	55	Kyoung-Ouk YOU (KOR)		Team Korea	+1.650
9	9	WANG Jian Wei (CHN)		Team Betterlife	+1.863
10	77	SUN Chao (CHN)		P D GROUP Team	+2.906
11	23	Alex AU (HKG)	Am	AK Racing	+5.513
12	66	ZHANG Ran (CHN)	Am	Audi Castrol	+7.867
13	99	Anthony CHAN (HKG)		Team Chengdu New Elements	+9.029
14	13	Adrian FU (HKG)	Am	FuSpeed Racing	+10.774
15	88	Dr. FENG Derui	Am	Team Audi R8 LMS Cup	+14.451
16	3	Hugues RIPERT (HKG)	Am	Spark Motorsport	-

(AM) Amateur Cup Competitor