With the racing action intensified even further by Malaysia’s concentrated summer heat, it was Team Shanghai Yonda BWT’s weekend at Rounds 5, 6 & 7 of the 2025 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia season. On top of that, 27 entries took on the Endurance Cup’s opening round at Sepang International Circuit.
The action got underway on Saturday evening with the Chinese team’s pole sitter Dylan Pereira fending off a spirited challenge from Team Porsche New Zealand’s Marco Giltrap into Turn 1, as another battle raged between Sime Motors Racing’s Hugo Ellis and Phantom Global Racing’s Dylan Yip for P3.
Currently leading this year’s championship, Pereira controlled the weekend’s opening race in a decisive manner, pulling out a clear lead to secure victory as Giltrap held resolutely on to second place. Yip held off Ellis’ early pressure to take his third consecutive podium finish.
Meanwhile in the Masters class, Malaysian driver Adrian D’Silva brought home a victory for Earl Bamber Motorsport, while Porsche Retail 69 Team’s Jacky Wu and Modena Motorsports’ well seasoned John Shen took second & third places respectively.
Sunday’s first race saw Pereira continuing to display impressively consistent speed by taking the pole position again, this time with TORO Racing’s Enzo Trulli, the son of former Italian F1 driver Jarno Trulli who won the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix & was known for his immense qualifying and defensive skills, making an excellent launch off the line to maintain P2. Giltrap quickly overtook Yip as Team Wetrade x PGR’s Josh Rowledge also placed himself in a competitive position.
Just past the race’s halfway mark however, a Safety Car intervention period neutralised their lead advantages, although Pereira successfully continued to lead after the restart. Giltrap passed Trulli with a decisive move into the final turn just a few laps later. Saturday night’s 1-2 finish between Pereira & Giltrap thus repeated itself once again, with the young Italian racer fending off Rowledge’s constant pressure to secure a third place result.
OpenRoad Racing’s Christian Chia secured his first Masters win for the 2025 season, with Shen taking second as D’Silva doggedly fought his way back from an earlier contact incident to take P3.
Drama ensued on the 43 minute + 1 lap Endurance Cup’s opening lap itself when multiple cars made contact, including Z.SPEED Motorsport’s Malaysian Pro-class driver Amer Harris Jefry and Team Jebsen’s Rodrigo Dias Almedia, resulting in a red flag period to safely clear the stricken 911 GT3 Cups & debris off the track. Once the race resumed, Pereira carried on his lead off the rolling start as Trulli sprinted from fourth to second with some impressive moves through Sepang’s opening corners.
Another dominant lights to flag win made it a true weekend to remember for Pereira, even as Trulli defended hard against Yip to take another well deserved P2 finish. Driving for Sime Motors Racing, Nazim Azman secured fourth to ensure a strong result at his home race.
Wu and D’Silva also found themselves caught up in the opening lap’s fracas, with damage to both Masters’ cars meaning they couldn’t restart. Modena Motorsport’s Shen then overtook Chia for a decisive first win of the season.
Complimenting the on-track action, Porsche Malaysia also hosted the finale rounds of their popular Porsche Esports Sprint Challenge, fostering a passion for racing among young motorsport hopefuls while creating great fan engagement. Integrating the Esports Sprint Challenge right into the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia weekend itself is a clear demonstration of Porsche Malaysia’s ongoing commitment to celebrating motorsport excellence while developing future racing talents.
Seamlessly closing the gap between virtual aspiration and real-world reward, podium finishers had the opprtunity to clinch a real-life Porsche track driving experience for the first time ever. Beyond the thrilling competition itself, participants were immersed in a motorsport-like environment with professional coaching sessions & dedicated driver profile photoshoots.
Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Manager Alexandre Imperatori said, “What an amazing weekend of action in Sepang with great racing throughout the field and a successful opening round of the Endurance Cup. It was extremely challenging for the 27 drivers as all three races were so different with one at night, another in the day and the third being a longer version as well as featuring a rolling start. That being said, it makes it even more impressive to see Dylan win all three rounds and Bao do the same in the Pro-Am class. The Endurance Cup proved a real physical test for the whole field, but the drivers loved this extra challenge! It was great to also welcome back the TTAP students to the pit-lane and we thank Porsche Malaysia for putting on activities such as its Esports Sprint Challenge. Overall, it’s been remarkable, and we can’t wait to go racing in Bangsaen next month which will be a spectacle in front of a packed crowd.”
