It was not the best of outings for Aditya Patel at the Taiwan round of the Audi R8 LMS Cup held last weekend at the Penbay International circuit in Taiwan. He got off to a slow start during the practice session for the first race but picked up the pace during qualifying, only to falter again in the super pole lap. He ended up being on the 8th position on the grid for the start of the first race of the weekend.
The first race of the weekend saw Rahel Frey and Alessio Picariello overtake pole position holder and ex F1 racer Alex Yoong in the first lap itself. Despite being under pressure, Yoong was able to fend off all other attempts to overtake throughout the race. Aditya Patel finally managed to finish 7th after moving up and down the race order. The Penbay racetrack is also called the Monaco because of its tight nature and the lack of overtaking opportunities.
(Audi R8 LMS Cup Taiwan)The second race of the weekend saw Patel start the race in the 7th position again, but a solid start saw him moving up a couple of positions, although he was still held up behind Alex Yoong and his team-mate Frank Cheng. Putting all of his F1 experience, Alex Yoong did not let Cheng and Patel to overtake him for the entirety of the 17 laps of the race. Patel finally crossed the finish line in the 5th position and while it was Alessio Picariello, who took the chequered flag. He also now has the maximum championship points ahead of Alex Yoong.
With regards to the race weekend, Patel said, "It's unfortunate that I didn't put proper lap down in super pole after such good pace in the qualifying one. I knew it would be hard to overtake here but we made the best of what we had and managed to end the weekend fighting for a spot on the podium. The pace is at its best in the Audi R8 LMS Cup and I'm hoping to end the season on a high note!"
The final race of the Audi R8 LMS Cup season will be held in Shanghai, as a support race to WEC, which will be held on 5th November, 2016.
