O’Young hoping to make most of Shanghai head-start

Darryl O’Young heads to Shanghai this weekend as one of very few drivers on the grid who have raced at the circuit, driving for the second race in succession for Bamboo Engineerin in their Cruze Chevrolet 1.6T.

The Hong Kong driver took victory just last week in the Audi R8 LMS cup as a guest driver last week at the same circuit layout, which will also work in the 32-year-old’s favour this weekend.

“It was great preparation for me to compete in the Audi LMS Cup ahead of the WTCC Race of China,” said O’Young.

“I haven’t driven on the Shanghai F1 circuit this year, so it was really nice to have some track time before getting behind the wheel of my bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze. I’m really looking forward to the races in Shanghai and Macau and I want to get the maximum performance out of myself at my two home races.”

O’Young’s new team-mate, British driver Alex MacDowall, will be hoping to benefit from his team-mate’s experience at the circuit as he continues his challenge to win the 2012 Yokohama Independents’ Trophy in his debut WTCC season. MacDowall is 41 points behind with 66 remaining, which keeps him with an outside chance.

“We had a good weekend in Suzuka and I’m confident we can be as competitive again in China,” said MacDowall.

“It’s another new track for me but the Chevy is the best chassis in the championship so I don’t think we should have anything to worry about – and the team is doing a great job.”