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Audi India Driver Aditya Patel has emerged from Taiwan leading the Audi R8 LMS Cup standings ahead of Thomas Fjordbach of Denmark and Audi and Frankie Cheng of China. Being a three race weekend, with a grid of very strong drivers, Patel had his work cut out at the Penbay International Circuit.
After starting from sixth on the grid in race one, Patel managed to move his way up to fourth early in the race and bring the car home collecting valuable points for the championship. The race was won by DTM driver Edoardo Mortara.
Race two was the highlight of Patel's weekend. Starting fourth on the grid, the Chennai lad kept his nose clean and moved up to second behind Edoardo Mortara, who was later penalized for an incident. Soon he was challenged by Frankie Cheng, a former DTM driver, for the lead of the race. Frankie who was on better tyres made full use of the advantage and had the better of Patel. The Indian had to settle for second from there on.
The third and final race saw Patel start in Pole position. However, he was at a disadvantage right from the beginning as he started the race on used tyres unlike his competitors. After a tussle on lap one, Patel lost the lead and slowly dropped to sixth place owing to damage from the incident on the first lap. However, a series of consistent finishes sees Patel at the top of the driver’s table.
“It was a tough weekend both in terms of conditions as well as competition. It still feels good to lead the championship after the halfway mark. I did make some wrong decisions in terms of strategy but I guess I won’t make the same mistakes again! I now look forward to the second half of the season. I’d like to take the opportunity to thank my Sponsors, Audi India, JK Tyre Jubilant motorworks and Oris Watches.”
The next race will be in Malaysia on the 4th and 5th of September.
