Kiwi driver Chris van der Drift enjoyed a win and a podium at the latest 2023 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia rounds at the Chang International Circuit in Thailand over the weekend.
Current points-leader Meidong Racing’s Florian Latorre started the first race (Round 7) in pole position, followed by Team Shanghai Yonda’s Chris van der Drift in second, and TORO Racing’s Luo Kailuo in p3. With van der Drift sandwiched between the two points-leaders on the starting grid, the Kiwi driver knew he had to make an early move if he was to avoid being stuck in the midst of the ongoing Luo Kailuo versus Latorre battle.
Van der Drift immediately took the lead and despite a safety car period he was able to build a gap on the rest of the field. The three-time Carrera Cup Asia champion finished the race in first, earning his first victory of the season. The last time van der Drift raced at Chang International Circuit with the Carrera Cup Asia in 2015 he took home a double victory, making this event three Carrera Cup Asia wins in a row on this circuit for van der Drift. Harker crossed the finish line second, however due to his post-race penalty, the final result was Latorre in second and Luo Kailuo in third.
For the second race (Round 8), Latorre started on pole once again, with Luo Kailuo in second and van der Drift in third. Latorre had another disastrous start, once again finding himself unable to hold onto pole position out of the gate, and being overtaken by both van der Drift and Luo Kailuo. Wasting no time, Luo Kailuo immediately began building up his lead, as van der Drift, Latorre, Harker and Porsche Holding’s Martin Ragginger found themselves bunched up tightly in a four-way battle. The p2-p5 tussle gave Luo Kailuo space to develop his lead, adding around 1 second of distance each lap.
The race was yellow flagged on lap 9. By that time, Luo Kailuo had developed an almost 7-second lead, making this a frustrating turn of event for him. The safety car was certainly good news for current points-leader Latorre, who had managed to slip past van der Drift to take p2 before the action slowed down.
The safety car came off in lap 14, leaving Latorre with 4 laps remaining to take the lead. However, despite Latorre putting in some of his personal best sector times, it wasn’t enough to catch up to Luo Kailuo, who finished the race in first, with Latorre in second and van der Drift in third.
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