It has been a long and tough weekend in Silverstone for the first round of the FIA GT Championship. It has been a less than smooth weekend, but definitely a big learning experience as we faced many challenges throughout the weekend.

With the stellar field of drivers, the qualifying was tight and even with my qualifying time 1 second from 1st position in the GT2 class, it was only enough to put me in 11th position for the start of the race.

The day didn't start as planned as in the morning warm up, an oil seal in the gearbox broke which ended our session after 1 lap. We shrugged off the warm up and prepared for the race. Our focus was to drive without mistake, try to keep our tires in good condition for the long stints, and to make quick and perfect driver changes/pit stops.

My team mate, Marco Holzer and I, knew we would have to drive a strong race in order to make it up the field and we gave it our best effort.

The race didnt start too well as I struggled with the tire grip on the opening stint. We haven't figured out exactly why, but the first set of tires seemed to fall off the pace really quickly making the car very difficult to drive.

The team saw the struggle for pace in the opening stint so we cut the stint short and put Holzer in the car. We were very unlucky because 2 laps after we stopped, the safety car came out. This allowed many of the teams the chance to stop during the yellow flag causing us to lose alot of time. Although we lost time to a few of the top teams, we made a perfect pit stop and still managed to move up two positions into 6th.

After the race was restarted, Holzer pushed hard and drove a strong stint keeping pace with the cars ahead. The top 3 cars which pitted under safety car were able to gain a big advantage so for us, it came down to race for 4th position. After a 40 min stint, he came in for the final pit stop of the race. His strong drive put us in position to make it further up the field as we made a second perfect and quick pitstop. This moved us up another position up to 5th position in the GT2 category.

I pushed hard in my final stint and fought hard to keep our top 5 position. The car was handling much better on the 2nd set of tires which allowed me to drive hard and set much better lap times. A Ferrari was behind me pressuring me the entire final stint to try and take away our 5th position. I held him at bay and although he put alot of pressure on me, I managed to hold him off for 25 min... It was only on the final lap that suddenly something went wrong...

My car began surging for fuel. I gave it my all to keep the Ferrari behind, but at the last corner, my car took a big fuel surge slowing my car all the way down and allowing the Ferrari to sneak by before the chequered flag. We finished our first race in 6th position.

Of course, I am not happy to lose a position in the final corner, but it was the first time working with Prospeed Competition this weekend and everyone gave it their all. It was a strong team effort and to fight for a top 5 position in our first race is quite promising. The team is highly motivated to improve on this and all eyes are aimed at the podium right now. It will not be an easy road getting there, but we will not aim for anything less than race wins and podiums.

My team mates, Richard Westbrook and Emmanuel Collard drove a strong race to win the race in the GT2 category. Both our results combined have given Prospeed Compeition the early lead in the team championship category.

I head back to Hong Kong for 2 days today and then head over to Beijing next weekend for the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia. 2 weeks from now I will be back in Europe in Adria, Italy just outside Venice for the second round of the FIA GT Championship...I can't wait!

More updates to come soon!

Darryl

My team in the FIA GT Championship, Prospeed Competition announced Marco Holzer of Germany as my team mate for the championship season. He currently drives as a Porsche Junior driver for Porsche Motorsport. I know him from the past season as we competed against each other in the Porsche Supercup, but now we team up to fight against some of the best GT drivers in the world..

I'm delighted to have him as a team mate as he's quick on the track and a great guy off the track..Our first race of the season is this weekend at Silverstone and we hope to put in a good result to get our campaign underway...

We are both rookies to this championship so we will have a uphill road to climb, but it is fantatstic that we have experienced team mates in the #60 Prospeed car such as Richard Westbrook and Emmanuel Collard so they can give us advice and guidance as we fight for Porsche in our GT3 RSR.

Here's a link to Marco's website...

http://www.marco-holzer.de/

Hello everyone! It has been a long off season and yes, i've been a bit behind on my blogging!! Well, i'm back for the season and it will be a busy season ahead!

Actually, the off-season has been a bit hectic as well as I have been testing in both Asia and Europe. I had the opportunity to test in both GT1 and GT2 cars over the winter. Some of the circuits were completely new to me such as Paul Ricard in the South of France and also the new Portimao circuit in the Algarve, Portugal.

Today, my sponsors and I have officially announced that I will be competing the full championship in the FIA GT Championship in the GT2 category. It is extremely exciting as I will be competing for Prospeed Competition, the official Porsche factory supported team. We will be driving in Porsche GT3 RSR's and we will go head to head with other makes with the main competitor being Ferrari.

The news section of my website has alot more details about the project so you can click there for the official press release.

The FIA GT will consist of 8 rounds, 7 of which will be 2 hour races and 1 which will be the 24 hours of Spa in Belgium. In addition, Team Jebsen and I have partnered up again to defend our championship title in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia which will have 12 rounds all around Asia.

Last week I already competed the first two rounds of the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia. It was a support race for Formula 1 at the Shanghai Grand Prix. Shanghai has not been kind to me in the past couple seasons. It is the only circuit on the Asian tour in which I have yet to record a victory placing runner-up numerous times. Last year, Shanghai was where my suspension came loose during the race which effectively lost my 20 point lead in the championship, so it would only be right if it all goes wrong again to start off my 2009 season.

I was quickest in the first free practice on Friday, but that was the only thing the entire weekend that would put a small smile on my face. After the practice session was over, the team discovered an engine problem which forced us to replace the engine. This was a very standard engine change and was quite simple for the team to do.

We replaced the engine for the qualifying session which took place on Saturday. After only 3 corners, the engine felt a bit strange and came to a halt. I pulled the car off to the side of the track and that ended my qualifying session. This is quite unbelievable as in the past 6 seasons i've raced for Team Jebsen in the PCCA, I've NEVER had any problems with the engine, but this wknd, we had two!!

The team worked as hard as they possibly could between the qualifying and race 1, but there was very minimal time between the sessions and it could not be fixed in time. It was my entire teams nightmare, but I had to sit out the first race of the championship and watch the race on TV.

In round 2 which took place on Sunday, the team fixed the engine and I started the race in last position. I had a blinding start which saw me past 6 cars off the line, but that was short lived because in turn 1, I went to overtake a car and we touched wheels. This gave me a puncture which forced me to pit on the first lap. All my chances at a top 5 were gone and after driving as hard as I could, I was only able to make it back up to 11th position.

Yes, a disastorous start to the season. It will be a very difficult task, but I will just have to race as hard as I can, take as many race wins as possible and hopefully climb my way back up in the championship from a 33 point deficit to the current leader of the championship! There are 10 rounds remaining in the season...


My car ready to race in round 1

After a great season of racing, it has come to the end of my 21st racing season. My career has grown since it started so many years ago and I've been able to move up the ladder of racing over the years.. One man that has been with me all the way since the beginning is my father, Samuel O'Young...

About 2 wks ago, I was in Hong Kong and I recieved a call from my family. I found out that my father had suddenly passed away. It was very unexpected and a great shock to us all. I am deeply saddened with his passing, and I've put everything to a halt in my business life and come back to Vancouver immediately to be with my family during this difficult time...

I have to give a big thankyou to everyone that has sent messages of support and encouragement over this hard time. It is very difficult for me to cope with this as my father and I were so close to each other, so it has been a trying 2 weeks...

I dedicate my career to my father, because without him, I wouldn't have had the chance to make it where I am today.. I still have a long road in front of me, and my dad has prepared me well for the challenges that may lay ahead..

My fathers funeral service last week was amazing. Around 500 people came to celebrate the wonderful life he had. It was a true tribue to how many lives he has touched during his 62 years.. I spoke at my fathers funeral and below is the eulogy I prepared. Thanks again for everyone's support and I know my dad will be watching me from heaven.

For those that would like to know more about his life, feel free to click this link below and see his memorial website.. and for those who knew him, it would be great if you could leave a note in the guest book as the family apprecaites hearing stories or memories his many friends may have had during his life..

http://www.mem.com/Story.aspx?ID=2732876

Dad’s Eulogy

I guess you can say I’m still shocked…stunned with what has happened. As I was preparing for today’s eulogy, I often stared blankly into the screen without a word to write. I guess it’s hard to realize or accept that my dad, the man I turned to for everything! is no longer here…

Looking back through my life…he has been there every step of the way. He never let me down, never gave up on me, and always challenged me to understand life in order to make me who I am today. I don’t even know where to start because dad has given me and my family so much during his lifetime that a mere 5 minute talk couldn’t possibly do him justice…

One of the earlier memories was when I was about 6 yrs old. I was riding with him on the back of a 4 wheel ATV around the Westwood Mountain Raceway. Those were the care free days where we’d cruise around the outskirts of the racetrack and just watch races all day long. Racing was what he loved, and it’s something I quickly came to fall in love with too.

Its funny because at that age, most fathers are teaching their kids to kick a soccer ball, or maybe tie their shoe laces, but he would say to me “Darryl, do you see how that driver takes the racing line? He’s using every bit of the road and keeps the car so smooth.” Remember…I was six yrs old ok?!

I also remember him teaching me how to use a clutch in his red Honda crx when I was 11 years old, and I could barely see over the dash board. I remember that like it was yesterday…

I think dad and I have probably been on over 100 road trips together. He usually would be waiting for me outside my school as I got off class, and I’d run out and hop into the van and off we’d go. We would sing oldies and eat peanuts together as we drove into the night on our way to another race.

I remember driving through a mountain pass once, I was sleeping, and he shook me to wake me up. The car was stopped and he said “hop outside.” We got out of the car and I realized we were at the highest point of the mountain and when I looked up, the night sky was just covered with thousands of stars.. It was unbelievable and we stood there for half an hour just chatting…

My dad was a very special person. He had so much patience and never put pressure on me to win races. Every race I competed in, he would lean over to me on the starting grid and just say, “have fun son.” Those words always meant a lot to me because it meant that no matter how I did, win or lose, he would still be proud of me..

I think I could go on forever with these memories, because that was what we were able to do, year after year, create unforgettable memories. But instead, I want to share with you the special relationship that motorsport gave us.

My father and I started racing go-karts together since I was eight years old. My dad has been with me all the way and this year, we just finished our 21st season. During all this time, we were able to build a great relationship and we really learned to understand each other well. This was possible because we were able to spend so much time together and it gave him a real chance to talk to me and share with me all he learned over his years. He used those moments to give me life lessons, explore different perspectives, and bring me closer to God. He taught me sportsmanship, humbleness, and true family values, all characteristics that he had in him and wanted to pass on to me.

I guess I didn’t appreciate that when I was younger, but today, I see it was always in his plan. I am so thankful that he took the time to help me understand things rather than merely letting me experience them, because it’s that extra time he put in that really makes a difference. It really showed how loving he was as a father. Most importantly, he taught me the importance of our family. He cared so much for his parents, wife, kids, and grandchild, that it has left a big impression on me.

I was always scared to face this day, the day my dad would no longer be here because I relied on him so much. Every time something good or bad would happen, the first person that would come to my mind was my dad. I looked up to him so much because no matter what situation I brought forward to him, he always had the answer for me.

However, over the past few days, I have come to realization that although I feel like I’m not ready to face the world, my dad has spent all his energy equipping my sisters and I with everything we need to take on the world. I realized that over the past 28 years, he has given me a strong foundation that I can now try to build upon. I owe this all to my dad, he has made me the man I am and I will try my best to live a great and fulfilling life like he has.. I love you dad..

Qualifying worked out perfect today for me as I was able to put down my fastest lap ever at the Macau Grand Prix with a 2:27.15. I knew early on that I had to put a time down before we caught up to lapped traffic so I went out pushing hard. My time was over 2 seconds quicker than 2nd placed Danny Watts which is my largest margin I've ever had for a pole position!

On the first lap, I came across some traffic which gave me a time of 2:29.33. I pushed hard on the second lap and without any traffic, clocked in my pole position time. I slowed for 1 lap to try and gain some space again, but came across traffic on my third lap. I felt the time I had was quick enough for first so I came into the pit.

At the end of the session, I went back out for some more laps in order to try and get some data for the team. We wanted to see how the car felt after some more laps so we put in four more laps before the session came to an end.

I'm very pleased with the result as I put in maximum effort during the qualifying session. The race will be difficult tomorrow as there is 36 cars in the race. We will come across traffic after the first few laps so getting quickly and cleanly passed lapped traffic will be the key to victory for the race.

We also finished the day off with an autograph session for the fans. Thanks to all those that came out to show their support, its greatly appreciated! Wish me luck for tomorrows race as I will try my hardest to take my 3rd victory in the streets of Macau!

For those in Hong Kong, remember the race will be live on TVB at 10:30am.