Racing into a car culture

'Racing improves the breed' is a quotation credited to Soichiro Honda, founder of the eponymous Japanese carmaker. As China increasingly embraces a 'car culture', it's also a way of improving brand awareness - critically important in a market where a manufacturer's heritage doesn't count for as much as it does in Europe.

That's one of the reasons high-end manufacturers such as Porsche and Audi are using exclusive racing series to show their products and build a stronger bond with current and potential customers.

Porsche have been at it for years. Racing is in their DNA and there are hundreds of Porsches competing somewhere in the world almost every weekend, in everything from historic rallies to famous events such as the Le Mans 24-hour race.

In Asia, Porsche have focused their racing activities for a decade on the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia, a series which caters for professional and amateur drivers all in identical Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars, a car which, while a purpose-built racing car, has a direct lineage to what you can drive away from your local dealer. Audi are relative newcomers to the Asian one-make racing scene, with the Audi R8 LMS Cup being launched this year and focused exclusively on events through China. Porsche ventures further afield with events in Malaysia and Singapore, although the series has greatly increased its Chinese presence in recent years and is now administered by Porsche China.

Audi's launch of the LMS Cup was significant in that they chose China for their first brand cup. The series features their flagship Audi R8 two-seater sports car, which in its racing specification has proved a fearsome weapon on tracks across the world and dominated last year's prestigious Macau GT Cup race against opposition from the latest Lamborghini and McLaren supercars. Sixteen identical cars lined up for the series debut in Shanghai in April, with professional drivers such as Malaysian former Formula One driver Alex Yoong and Hong Kong's Marchy Lee Ying-kin being joined by several experienced Chinese amateur and semi-professional drivers. A sprinkling of stardust was provided by the presence of Hong Kong entertainer Aaron Kwok Fu-shing, an enthusiastic racer for many years.

It's hardly surprising that Audi is putting a big effort into promoting their premium sporting model and the range in general - Audi sold over 310,000 cars on the mainland last year, making it their largest global market and the first quarter of this year saw a 40 per cent increase over the same period last year. Like Porsche, Audi actively encourages the participation of their dealers and distributors in their championship. One is Erdos Xinan, the Audi dealer in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, which is home to one of China's most recently built racetracks, which will host the series in August.