O'YOUNG AIMS TO STEAL SOME OF THE SPOTLIGHT FROM THE BIG BOYS
If the nerves are getting to Darryl O'Young, he isn't letting them show. In just his third season of racing in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia, the 26-year-old stands on the brink of securing his first championship.
O'Young carries a 14-point lead on to the starting grid for round nine of the series in Shanghai this weekend. And he knows that, with just three rounds left in the championship after that, he has raced himself to the brink of history.
Rather than be overawed, though, O'Young is showing the same sort of steely resolve and focus that has seen him notch up five wins already this year.
'I feel really confident,' he said. 'Two weeks before the race in Shanghai, I was already thinking about it every day. I have been really focused this year. It's my 18th year around racing so I feel that through all those years everything I have been doing has been building up to this.'
The Team Jebsen driver has ripped his way up the ranks in the series - coming fifth in his first season and third last year. And with the title now so close, he is leaving nothing to chance.
'There are two ways you can go,' he said. 'You can sit back and try to gather points or you can go flat out for the win. I am after pole position and from there I just want to go out and win the race. I want to close the championship before we get to Macau.'
After this weekend's event, the series makes its debut at the Zhuhai International Circuit with a double-header of races on October 22, before the season's finale, in Macau on November 19.
And O'Young likes the fact the series will be decided close to his 'home turf'. O'Young's parents were both born in Guangdong and while he was raised in Vancouver, he has called Hong Kong home for the past few years.
'Hong Kong doesn't have a track, so these coming races are as close to home as it gets for us,' he said. 'We have great support in China, and so we really want to put on a show for those fans.
O'Young knows he might not have it all his own way. The top eight drivers in the 20-car series are still in with a chance of winning the championship, not least among whom is arch-rival Shinichi Yamaji of Tomo Racing. And waiting in the wings in third place is fellow Hong Kong-based driver and 2004 champion Matthew Marsh, who is sitting 17 points adrift of Yamaji. 'Competition has been intense, with drivers from Europe and Japan all doing well,' said O'Young. 'But this has pushed me to work harder.'
He is looking forward to Shanghai this weekend. Apart from his own race, he says the trip is a chance to gauge how far motorsport has come on the mainland.
'It's a great track and the crowds now are amazing,' he said. 'The first year it was a bit of a novelty. You saw people supporting Ferrari and Schumacher but no one else really. But people are getting more knowledgeable, they know all the drivers now and they just know more about what to expect from something as large as a grand prix.'
But before he gets a chance to sit in the stands himself, O'Young has a little bit of business to take care of. 'Everything seems to have added up,' said O'Young. 'It's my third season so I see where I am now as a natural progression. The support I have from my team has been great and I just feel it has all come together and now it is up to me to go out and win.'
