Josh Rowledge – Porsche Carrera Cup Asia – Rnd 1 & 2 – Shanghai
EDGE management driver Josh Rowledge made his debut in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia championship that was held at the Shanghai International circuit in support of round two of the FIA Formula One World Championship.
In a bumper field of over 25 identical Porsche’s, Rowledge driving his “We Trade X PGR” race car qualified six on the grid amongst drivers with much more experience in similar machinery.
In what was his first standing start in this category Rowledge got a good launch and after a frantic opening lap he had held position and came around in sixth place.
After absorbing some early pressure from cars behind, Josh settled into a good rhythm and by lap four had started to work on closing the gap to the car in P5.
On lap five an incident ahead saw the P3 and P4 cars touch each other which resulted in a spin from the car in P4. Rowledge was right there to take advantage of this and promoted himself to P5.
At half distance Josh had caught the P4 car and made a move at the penultimate corner but the other car retook the place on cut back at the exit in some fantastic close racing.
A safety car was needed at the start of lap eight with Rowledge laying P5. Racing resumed at the start of lap 10.
The top two immediately started fighting and they pushed everyone back into each other and some very close racing ensued. Josh was up to P4 at the end of this lap but was in a pack of four cars all battling hard. Quite a lot of panel rubbing ensued which resulted in a car from the lead pack spinning & then being hit by another car from behind.
The red flag was put out with a lap to go and after the dust settled Josh finished P3 for a fantastic debut podium and the opportunity to stand on the Formula One podium in Shanghai.
There were many drivers who had to visit the stewards following the race and unfortunately Josh was deemed to have gained an unfair advantage in an overtake close to the end of the race and was the recipient of a 10 second penalty. Despite this setback Josh had certainly announced his arrival in the championship and was looking forward to the second race on Sunday.
From seventh on the grid on Sunday a stall on the line saw Josh fall to almost last by the end of lap one.
From here a comeback recovery drive was initiated & by lap six he’d fought his way upto P11.
As they went on to lap 10, with three laps to go, Rowledge was up to P8 and charging.
It took just half a lap for Josh to dispatch the car in eighth place and found himself in P7 with two laps to go. Unfortunately the gap to the top six was just short of six seconds and so by the time the chequered flag came out this is where Rowledge finished but only 1.5 seconds off the car in sixth.
After the weekend Josh Commented:
“Wow what a weekend! A real roller coaster. Super pleased to be on the pace amongst other drivers with much more experience in these cars & to stand on the F1 podium was a great feeling, just gutted it was taken away in the stewards’ room but that’s how it goes sometimes. Looking forward to the next one & just want to thank Edge and the guys at We Trade X PGR for all their support”
Results – Q – P6 & P7 / R1 – P14 (P3 on the road – penalty) / R2 – P7