Pereira Wraps Up Title Early as Amand Shines on Debut

Dylan Pereira sealed this year’s Porsche Carrera Cup Asia title with a round to spare in last weekend’s penultimate event of the season at Mandalika, as newcomer Marcus Amand stunned the field with a double victory on his series debut.

Luxembourg-born Pereira went to Mandalika with a strong chance of sealing the championship early having won the last eight races in a row, including clean sweeps of the previous three rounds at Motegi, Sepang and the Bangsaen street circuit.

However, that run came to an abrupt end in Saturday’s opening race at the Indonesian circuit as Finnish driver Amand, substituting for an absent Li Chao, annexed pole and was able to defend his lead at the start from both Enzo Trulli and Pereira.

Amand, who had appeared in last year’s Talent Pool Assessment test at Sepang, went on to take a debut win ahead of Trulli and Pereira, and the top two finished in the same order again in the second race on Sunday morning ahead of Hugo Ellis in third.

An off in the closing laps for Pereira dropped him from second to sixth, but this was still enough for the 28-year-old to claim the championship.

In the final race of the weekend on Sunday afternoon, Amand’s miraculous run would come to an end as he ran wide at Turn 1 on the first lap, while Trulli also made a poor exit to allow Pereira to sweep through and grab a lead he wouldn’t lose.

A ninth win of the season also confirmed Pereira as the champion of the six-race Endurance Cup mini-series that comprised the Sepang round in June as well as the championship’s first-ever visit to Mandalika.

Bao Jinlong meanwhile wrapped up the overall Pro-Am title with a second place on Saturday and a pair of wins in the two Sunday races.

The Porsche Carrera Cup Asia season concludes with a pair of races at Marina Bay on the support bill of the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix on Oct. 3-5.

Provisional 2026 Schedule Released

Porsche Carrera Cup Asia released a provisional 2026 calendar last weekend, with Zhuhai International Circuit returning to the schedule for the first time since 2022.

Zhuhai, situated near Macau, occupies the second slot on the schedule after the opener at Shanghai on the undercard of the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix.

Another change is that the series’ annual visit to Japan switches from Motegi to Fuji Speedway, which is set to host its first round of the series since 2019, with Bangsaen, Sepang and the Marina Bay F1 support event making up the schedule.

2026 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Schedule (provisional):
March 13-15 — Shanghai
April (TBD) — Zhuhai
May 8-10 — Fuji
July 3-5 — Bangsaen (Thailand)
Aug. 21-23 — Sepang
Oct. 9-11 — Marina Bay (Singapore)