Aditya Patel picks up points in Sepang

Aditya had a good practice session to finish sixth, ahead of Marchy Lee and Martin Rump.

Race driver Aditya Patel endured a difficult outing at the third weekend of the Audi R8 LMS Cup in Sepang held recently.

Aditya had a good practice session to finish sixth, ahead of Marchy Lee and championship contender Martin Rump. Qualifying however, didn’t go as per plan and Patel had to settle for eighth place.

Early on in Race 1, Aditya made quick work of Rump to move up to seventh but from then on could not make further progress behind Marchy Lee, but scored valuable points. Up front, Alex Yoong took a commanding win ahead of DTM Start Edoardo Mortara and former DTM driver Rahel Frey.

Race Two, however, started off well for Aditya with the Chennai lad moving up to sixth from eight on Lap 1. However, a spin while battling with Yoong saw Aditya drop down the order and thereafter failing to recover lost ground to finish 12th. The race was won by Edoardo Mortara who was pushed hard by Alessio Piccariello and Frey, with a whisker separating them at the end.

“It’s not ideal to have another rough weekend making it three in a row. We’ve identified where the time is being lost and it’s only a matter of putting it all together. The spin in Race Two also was unfortunate because I’m sure I could have battled for at least a top five finish.

“I guess there were a lot of positives this weekend that we can carry forward to Korea in four weeks time!” said Aditya.