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.