AP: Tim Sugden Shanghai summary

TIM SUGDEN BACK TO WINNING WAYS IN CHINA

The latest rounds of the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia saw Tim Sugden record his first win of 2008 and follow that with a second place in his GruppeM Porsche in Shanghai at the weekend. Sugden, who looked set for victory in the opening round of the season last month until a puncture dramatically robbed him of the win and failed to start the second race due to a mechanical problem, was delighted to have his title defence back on track, despite a mystery glitch which continues to plague him: "It's pretty much impossible to recover from a DNF in this series. All I can do is try and win, so I'm delighted by this. Brilliant!"

In the first race Tim had qualified only 3rd in a wet session with the team still setting up the car after changes to the final drive train that put him out in Malaysia. At the start he was able to get the lead in to the first corner as Christian Menzel of Germany, Daryll O'Young of Honk Kong and Tim all went through together. Tim established a small lead but Menzel came back at him and as always in a series where the cars are identical there followed a close race with the lead changing hands more than once before Tim took the win, his third at Shanghai Grand Prix circuit.

Race two therefore saw Tim on pole and he led away this time building a lead until an incident down the field brought out the pace car and Menzel, running second was able to get right back on Tim's tail. With just 2 laps to go Menzle got through and so Tim finished a close second.

After race two Tim said: "My start was good and the first two to three laps the car was very good. I had a reasonable gap when the Safety Car came out and closed everyone up. The car/me weren't great into braking at the hairpin at the end of the straight. I need to learn to brake there! Christian passed me on the outside, and fair play to him."

Menzel was thrilled to have taken the win in race two, and was full of compliments for the fierce-yet-clean racing in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia: "Everybody here is fair - always," he said. "All three of us got very good starts, we were all exactly the same. I must compliment my team as we made some changes for this race and the car handled much better, and I must thank Tim for showing me the line! I learned lap- by-lap to use different lines, and it helped me to get better. Tim was very fair, and everything was perfect."

The Porsche Carrera Cup Asia continues in June at Southern China's Zhuhai International Circuit, with Rounds 5 and 6 to be held as part of the Pan Delta Super Racing Festival on the 20th to 22nd June.

-credit: Tim Sugden