Everything has officialy fallen apart in Shanghai this weekend. My lead in the championship has deminished due to a costly error by the team that saw my suspension come apart during the race.

On the opening lap of the race, I moved up into 3rd postion after starting in fourth. My pace was very good and I stayed with the leaders of the race quite easily and comfortably and knew I was in a good positon for the championship. In view of the championship, I had a comfortable lead by 15 points in the overall standings and I just needed a podium finish to maintain that margin. My mindset was to stay with the leaders over the next few laps to keep my tires in good condition, then attack them in the latter stages of the race.

This strategy may have worked, however, on the 3rd lap of the race, my suspension suddenly came apart putting me into the gravel. (We later found out the suspension was not tightened properly after a camber adjustment in the morning) I managed to keep the car going through the gravel and limp the car back to the pits. The mechanics were able to fix the problem and we went back out onto the track to try and grab a couple points in case any other cars didn't finish.

I came back onto the circuit right back behind the two leaders, Menzel and Jones. I decided to give chase just to see if I had the pace. Over the next few laps, I closed the gap to the leaders and had the pace to easily overtake them, however, because they were fighting for the lead, I opted to just stay behind them in order not to disturb their battle.

Its frustrating as I knew we had a good car today and a podium or a win was very possible. Instead, we scored 0 points and have now fallen down to 2nd in the overall standings.

Although it is frustrating to have thrown away the comfortable gap we have worked on all year to build, Team Jebsen and our mechanics have done a fantastic job all year round. Everyone makes mistakes, so we will just have to learn from this and look ahead to Bahrain where we will have the final 2 rounds of the 2008 season. I still feel very confident and I look forward to the challenge to win this years championship. It's going to be heart pumping in Bahrain and so much will be on the line as all of us fight for the championship win.

The top 4 drivers in the PCCA championship are only seperated by 7 points now, making it closer than ever. It looks like Bahrain will be a true shoot out and every driver will have to win the 2 races in order to clinch the title.

Christian Jones 161
Darryl O'Young 158
Chritain Menzel 155
Tim Sugden 154

It was a tough day on the track today after qualifying in 4th position for tomorrows race in Shanghai. I already knew I was going to have some trouble from the start as I had to run in a new set of front brake pads. We didnt have another solution except to run them in during qualifying so it took a couple of laps for my brakes to come in.

After 1 warm up lap, I began my flying lap. It seemed my tires were not up to temperature quick enough and I struggled alot with grip and braking. It was a very difficult car to drive and my time definitely reflected that.

I came in for a tire change and went back out for a second run. My first lap on the 2nd set of tires was not too bad setting a lap time of 2:10.79, 3 tenths from the pole time set by Tim Sugden. On my second lap, I had already improved my time by 2 tenths of a second, but slower traffic that had just come out of the pit lane did not give way to the blue flags and obstructed me into a corner. I locked my brakes and ran wide on an exit of a corner costing me precious time.

It has been frustrating the last two qualifying session in the Carrera Cup Asia. During both the session in Singapore and this weekend in Shanghai, I was blocked by slower traffic during my flying laps. The time it happened in Singapore cost me pole position, and this time it has definitely cost me at least 1 or more positions. I just wish the slower cars would be more curtious during the session and give way to cars on their flying laps. Yes, it requires them looking in the mirrors, but thats the regulation!

Anyway, thats enough complaining from my end.. haha...4th position is not the worst place to start and if I can drive a good race, I should be able to finish up on the podium. I will drive hard and aim for a win tomorrow, but I will focus on another consistent finish and focus on collecting valuable championship points...

I have alot of guests here from Team Jebsen, Blue Girl Beer, and Zurich Insurance this weekend. The support is greatly appreciated and I hope to bring them all a good result in tomorrows race. Round 10 of the PCCA will be held at 12:40pm tomorrow, and there is a predicted chance of rain tomorrow, so we'll have to see what happens!

Below are the top 5 positions from todays qualifying session..

1.Tim Sugden 2:10.46
2.Christian Jones 2:10.49
3.Christain Menzel 2:10.59
4.Darryl O'Young 2:10.79
5.Marchy Lee 2:11.27

It was a good start to my weekend in Shanghai as we are approaching the final rounds of the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia. We dominated todays practice session setting the 3 quickest sectors of the session posting a 2:11.22, over 6 tenths ahead of 2nd and 3rd place, Christian Menzel and Tim Sugden.

It was actually a strange session as it was very late in the afternoon and the sun began to set. I took it quite easy in the first 2 laps as we had a new gearbox in the car so I ran it in smoothly. Soon after, some rain began to fall so I quickly put in a quick lap before pitting in for my first stop.

I put a better set of tires on and waited for the track to dry a bit because the rain had stopped. I went back out with about 15 min remaining in the session and set 2 quick laps. It quickly became dark and it felt like we were back in Singapore because we were literally driving at night!!

We had our headlights on and it became a bit difficult to see. More spectacular was Christian Menzel who had a gearbox leak very late in the session and his car caught fire briefly. The gearbox oil went onto the circuit at turn 10/11/12. I was back on the track trying to improve my lap time but the oil made it impossible to do so, so I came into the pit and ended my session.

It was a good start to the weekend, but tomorrow, I expect the times to be much much closer which should make for a competitive qualifying session. I will have to drive well tomorrow to achieve a good lap time. I think my track knowledge may have given me an advantage this session because we were driving in the DARK! haha...

Also a quick mention, a couple friends joined me from Vancouver to check out the practice from the pit lane today. Fellow VCMC members Arnold Yee and Henry Ho were visiting and I think they enjoyed the experience of being in the Formula 1 Pit Lane...

I hope to put in a pole position result for tomorrows qualifying session and take the extra point in the process!

I've been back in Hong Kong the past couple weeks. Although most would think I had some time off to relax and chill out a bit, it was pretty much the opposite. I've attended numerous events, had quite a few media interviews, also meetings as I work with my management team to secure my racing plans for the next season.

It has been busy, but of course I have been able to get some time to spend with friends and family. I'm also happy because I finally got a chance to go to church the past couple sundays! With my heavy travels, it usually makes it difficult to make it to church, so a couple weekends in Hong Kong has been great for that.

Also fantastic is the fact my Grandmother, Mom, and Sister have all come over to Hong Kong for a visit. They have even come up with me to Shanghai this weekend to support me at the Shanghai Grand Prix.

I arrived in Shanghai yesterday in preparation for the race this weekend. I'm about to head out to the race track to join my team. As usual, I'm going to go through the setup with my engineer, Sven, whom arrived this morning from Germany. Then I will go for a track walk just to refamiliarise myself with the circuit.

Stay tuned as I will be giving updates all weekend here as I try to extend my lead in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia. The lead now stands at 15points. It is a good gap which I worked very hard for, but I must drive hard yet smart in order to ensure I can secure my 2nd PCCA title.

Below are a few pictures from my past 2 weeks in Hong Kong...


Some of you may know that I'm a fan of jazz. I went to the Diana Krall concert last week and got a chance to meet her afterwards. She's cool because she seemed very laid back which is how people from Vancouver usually are. She spoke about how she missed Vancouver being on the road all the time. I think i know how she feels!




This is a pic from a great birthday party for a few of my friends. It was themed as oldskool so alot of my friends dressed up to have some fun! My outfit is from the late 80's inspired by the Fresh Prince of Belair.. haha





Below is a picture with Liang Wen-Chong who is China's current number 1 ranked golfer. It was taken at the UBS event which I spoke about in my last update.

Last night I attended the 50th Hong Kong Open Launch Party held at Watermark in Central. It was a great fit as I recently picked up golf as a hobby and also have a golf/racing media feature in this months HK Golfer Magazine.

I basicly spent the evening trying to tell people how bad my golf game was but that I was working hard to improve it! haha..When asking most people about golf or for golfing tips, the conversation would quickly turn back to motorsport as people were keen to find out more about my sport and also about the street circuit in Singapore!

The event was well attended and I met alot of interesting people including China's current number 1 golfer, Liang Wen-chong, and also Iain Valentine, the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Golf Association.

I've been invited to watch the UBS Hong Kong Open this year and i'm looking forward it as it will be the first golf tournament I ever attended, and what better place to go than in Hong Kong as this event has a long history here with many great golfers having played.

Usually, the tournament is in November on the same weekend as the Macau Grand Prix, but this year, it is one week later which gives me some time to go check it out! Looking forward to it =)