Motorsport News: New car and new look for the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia

From next season, private teams will be permitted to enter the 12-round championship for the first time, providing their own mechanics and race engineers to service the cars. However, the ‘arrive-and-drive’ package will remain available, where competitors are provided with professional mechanical services by respected
motorsport outfit and series partner EKS Motorsport.

In addition, shipping, parts and hospitality services will still be provided to all entrants.

The total cost of purchasing the new race car, which is only available to drivers who sign up for the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia 2010, is Euros 148,150, including a basic parts package and shipping from the Porsche AG base in Weissach, Germany. Participation in the series is Euros 36,267, which includes all registration costs,
shipping and track hospitality.

The EKS Motorsport service packages, which include professional racing personnel at each round, comprehensive vehicle checks and servicing, and packing and unpacking for shipping, is Euros 24,000 for the full season.

Just seven of the 14 international Porsche one-make series have been selected to run with the new car in 2010, amongst them the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia.

For the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia, established in 2003, the change to the regulations marks a coming of age for the series. Says Porsche Asia Pacific’s Motorsport Manager, Christoph Choi: “We believe the option of actually building your own team and running your car will broaden the entry, particularly as there is an increasing number of regional racing outfits who operate at a very high level. Their participation will only add to the competitiveness and quality of the series.”

However, Choi is keen to emphasise that the series will still provide the same level playing field which has made the concept so successful internationally, with seven Carrera Cups running across the world this season.

“Modifications to the car are, and will remain, strictly limited and tightly controlled. Porsche provides a high-performance and reliable racing car, a comprehensive set of regulations, and the rest is down to driver skill. We create a competitive environment carefully
designed to nurture and reward sporting excellence. This is the principle on which all Carrera Cups are based, and this will not change.”

Already Porsche Asia Pacific has been flooded with enquiries from teams across Asia looking to secure entries in the 2010 season, which will get underway with an official test at Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit in February next year.

The provisional calendar includes four meetings in China: At the 2010 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai in April; in the country’s capital city Beijing in May; at the Pearl
River Delta’s Zhuhai International Circuit in June; and the season grand finale schedule for the newly-constructed Guangdong International Circuit in October.

The calendar also includes a second round of the FIA Formula One World Championship, on Singapore’s Marina Bay Circuit, and the series’ debut in September at the new South Korean track which is scheduled to host the country’s first F1 Grand Prix in October
next year.

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