Kiwis Chris van der Drift and Will bamber finished third and fourth respectively in round three of Porsche Carrera Cup Asia at Japan’s Fuji Speedway leading from start-to-finish. The race was won by Austrian Martin Ragginger who led from start-to-finish in a dominant performance.
From fifth on the grid van der Drift launched to third whilst Bamber slipped back to where his fellow compatriot started.
In the no. 7 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, van der Drift pressured former Castrol Toyota Racing Series champion Andrew Tang.
Bamber began to fight back having fallen back off the start. He looked to make a pass early in the race on Philip Hamprecht, but couldn’t quite make a move when he dived down the inside on lap-three.
Martin Ragginger led Tang and van der Drift in the early running of the race, but the lead Kiwi couldn’t catch Tang as the race hit lap-six.
In the 15-lap affair the Kiwi couldn’t catch the leaders, but van der Drift’s slowing pace allowed Hamprecht to latch onto the back. That allowed Bamber onto the back of Hamprecht, which eventually saw him get past late in the race.
In third position, van der Drift held strong. Meanwhile, leader Ragginger was too hard to beat despite a late charge by Tang in second.
