Matthew Marsh Monaco race summary

Marsh enjoys memorable Monaco experience

Hong Kong's Matthew Marsh was left to savour "the experience of a lifetime" after becoming the first SAR driver to take part in a race around the historic streets of Monaco.

Marsh finished 14th in Saturday's Porsche Michelin Supercup -- one of the support races to Sunday's Monaco Formula One Grand Prix -- following 16 laps of intense racing.

"It was an unbelievable experience," he said. "To be sat on the grid at Monte Carlo waiting for the start of the race was just awesome. I made a good start [from 14th position] but there was heavy congestion at the first corner and I dropped one place.

"Once I settled into the race I realised it was going to be very difficult to move up the field, so at that point I decided to simply to have a nice, clean race, enjoy the wonderful and historic circuit and bring the car home undamaged. That's what I managed to do, although I did pick up one place in the closing stages when a driver in front of me went into the wall."

Holland's Patrick Huisman -- brother of Macau Grand Prix regular Duncan -- won the 18-car race.

With the Monaco race over, Marsh will turn his attention back to his ambitious plans for a Hong Kong team to take part in the world's greatest endurance race -- the Le Mans 24 Hours -- in June next year.

He has already secured major corporate sponsorship for the new team -- Noble Group-GruppeM Racing -- and expects to announce his two co-drivers within the next two weeks. The team's new Porsche GT3 RSR will be delivered to the UK next month for testing at Silverstone.

It will be the first time ever that a car owned and sponsored by SAR companies and piloted by Hong Kong drivers has competed in the blue riband event of sports car racing.

Marsh -- a Briton who has lived in Hong Kong for 14 years -- was invited to take part in the Porsche Michelin Supercup after winning last year's Porsche Infineon Carrera Cup Asia series.

He was cheered on yesterday by a contingent of Hong Kong supporters, led by top businessmen and avid motorsport fans Chip Connor and Brandon Wang, who rented an apartment by the first corner and draped a Bauhinia flag over the balcony.

Marsh added: "The biggest problem was that the Porsche I usually drive in Asia has a different braking system, which most of the other drivers were used to, so they were better under braking than I was. I couldn't get too close to the cars in front because I was always concerned about driving into the back of them, so I was never in a position to overtake if they made a mistake."

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