Porsche Junior Amand With Strong Lead at Halfway Point

Porsche junior driver Marcus Amand holds a strong lead in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia title race at the halfway stage after securing his second and third victories of the season in last weekend’s third round at Fuji Speedway.

The 20-year-old Franco-Finnish driver, took a clean sweep of wins aboard his Phantom Global Racing-prepared No. 3 car at the iconic Japanese venue to extend his points lead, adding to his triumph in the opening race of the Zhuhai round in April.

It has put Amand 37.5 points clear of Phantom Global stablemate Rodrigo Dias Almeida, who has scored three podiums from the opening six races and scored maximum points in the second Zhuhai race, second on the road behind stand-in Alexander Tauscher.

The season began at Shanghai in March, when Carrera Cup Asia became the first series worldwide to debut the all-new Type-992.2 Porsche 911 Cup car, with the wins being shared by Naquib Azlan (EBM) and another guest driver, Luo Kailuo.

Azlan, one of six newcomers backed by the series’ Talent Pool initiative, scored pole position but failed to get away at the start after burning his clutch, which triggered a multi-car accident that led to the race being red-flagged and cancelled. The Malaysian driver was declared the winner and half-points awarded on the basis of qualifying.

Dias Almeida won the second race on the road from pole, but was awarded a ten-second time penalty for jumping the start that would result in him being classified eighth, while promoting Luo (610 Racing) to the top spot.

However, with Luo ineligible to score, it was Ling Kang (Origine Motorsport) who would take home maximum points for a second place finish ahead of Amand.

Azlan once again took pole at Zhuhai, but in the first race he was passed off the line by Amand, who went on to take his first win of the year to take the points lead.

Any chances of a double win in the second race however were ruined at Turn 1 as Marco Giltrap misjudged his braking, tipping Amand into a spin while also in turn making contact with both Azlan and Ling, all three drivers dropping down the order.

That opened the door for Porsche Carrera Cup Germany regular Tauscher, deputizing at Absolute Racing for the absent Marvin Klein, to take the win ahead of Dias Almeida. Amand recovered to third, scoring points for second place as a result.

At Fuji, Amand won Saturday’s opener by passing poleman Klein at Turn 1 and then picking off Ling, who jumped the start to lead, later on the opening lap.

Another good start from second on the grid in Sunday’s finale allowed him to get the better of Azlan — on pole for the fifth time in six races — and take another win ahead of the Malaysian driver to solidify his grip on the championship lead.

Behind Dias Almeida, fourth in both Fuji races, Giltrap sits third in the standings with two podiums ahead of Ling and Klein, who scored a double podium at Fuji.

Azlan sits sixth, having retired from the Fuji opener after being hit from behind at Turn 1, ahead of the next best of the Talent Pool newcomers, Alex Sawer (Bergwerk).

Wang Zhongwei leads the Pro-Am standings with three wins from six so far, while Roy Tang and John Shen lead the Am and Masters classifications respectively.

Porsche Carrera Cup Asia’s 2026 season continues at the Bangsaen street circuit in Thailand on July 3-5, before visits to Sepang in Malaysia and then Marina Bay for a pair of support races on the undercard of Formula 1’s Singapore Grand Prix.