Giltrap Beats Amand to Title After Double Singapore Win

Marco Giltrap was crowned Porsche Carrera Cup Asia champion after a double victory in last weekend’s Singapore finale allowed him to beat Marcus Amand to the crown.

New Zealander Giltrap, 22, was contesting his rookie season as part of the Carrera Cup Asia Talent Pool after spending two years in the equivalent Australian category, and quickly emerged as a consistent podium finisher in the first half of the year.

However, it wasn’t until the penultimate round of the year at Sepang that he emerged as a serious title contender, as he capitalized on the absence of Porsche junior Amand, scoring two wins out of three to take a narrow lead to the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

In Saturday night’s first race under the floodlights, Giltrap converted his fourth consecutive pole position into a straightforward win to extend his points lead over Amand, who fought his way back to third from 16th after a grid penalty.

Splitting the two title contenders in second place was guesting 2024 champion Alessandro Ghiretti, who was not eligible to score points.

The final race on Sunday was held in daylight, before the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix, and polesitter Giltrap was forced to defend against a fast-starting Amand, who made rapid progress from fifth on the grid to run second in the early laps.

After an early safety car period for an incident involving Rodrigo Dias Almeida, whose faint title hopes were ended on Saturday with a fourth-place finish, Amand went on the attack and attempted to go around Giltrap’s outside at the Turn 7 left-hander.

Amand gained track position, but in doing so left the track, and after the safety car was called again he ceded position to Giltrap, who was able to soak up the pressure for the remaining laps and hang on for his fourth win of 2026 to clinch the title.

Behind Amand, the podium was completed by another guest starter in the form of veteran Jaap van Lagen, ahead of Ghiretti.

Despite his DNF in the finale, Dias Almeida ended up third in the final standings, scoring two maximum scores but no outright wins, ahead of two other Talent Pool drivers, Liu Ruiqi and Naquib Azlan, the latter winning the opening round in Shanghai.

Of the remaining Talent Pool-backed newcomers, Alex Sawer concluded the year seventh overall, Seth Gilmore eighth, Joshua Berry (son of FIA World Endurance Championship racer Martin) tenth and Amna Al-Qubaisi 12th.

Wang Zhongwei and Roy Tang were crowned champions in the Pro-Am and Am divisions respectively, while John Shen took honors in the Masters class.

With the season now complete, Carrera Cup Asia will now turn its attentions to its next Talent Pool Assessment Test on Nov. 22-24 at Sepang.

The 2027 calendar was announced on Friday on the eve of the Singapore finale, featuring a special joint event with Porsche Carrera Cup Japan at Fuji Speedway.