Darryl O’Young rounded out his 2012 World Touring Car Championship campaign with a double Yokohama Independents’ win on the streets of Macau.
Having had a crash during the Thursday test which meant that the bamboo engineering team had to work until 6am Friday morning, he repaid them with a double top five finish.
“It was an amazing weekend here in Macau,” explained the 32 year old. “After my crash on Thursday, I didn’t even know if I’d have the chance to compete this weekend as my car was quite damaged. But bamboo engineering did a fantastic job to repair my car perfectly in order for me to qualify the car on pole position.”
Qualifying saw O’Young set the 6th fastest time of the second session, a result which left him as the top Yokohama Independent on the grid, and after qualifying he said: “I am happy. It was my best result this year and I have to thank the team for this, because yesterday I made a mistake and they worked until six o’clock this morning to repair my car. They did a fantastic job that enabled me to achieve this result.”
The penultimate round of the season saw O’Young get through Lisboa on the opening lap before a multi-car accident behind blocked the circuit. After Championship leader Rob Huff retired after hitting the wall at Poial, O’Young moved into fifth and he took the chequered flag fifth overall and the top Independent runner, with the fastest lap for the Independents’ as well.
“In race 1, I positioned my car very well into Lisboa. Although I was hit on the rear once, I managed to escape Lisboa with the other top 5 cars. I managed to maintain the gap and win the 1st race cleanly,” continued O’Young.
The final race of the campaign saw the bamboo engineering driver start fourth overall and fourth in the Independents’, but recovered to another top five finish by the flag after his team-mate Alex MacDowall plus fellow Independents’, Norbert Michelisz and Pepe Oriola all had incidents which ruled them out of contention.
“In race 2, I had a decent start and managed to maintain 4th place in the independents after lap 1. It was a race about staying clean and out of trouble and this plan worked effectively, as several cars crashed in front of me and I managed to avoid and keep it clean,” added O’Young.
The Macau weekend saw O’Young jump up to sixth in the Yokohama Independents’ points standings, having taken 42 out of a possible 43 points. The weekend however was also filled with sadness as a fellow Hong Kong racer, Phillip Yau, lost his life in a qualifying accident for the Macau Touring car Cup race.
“At the end, I’m extremely happy to win this race for my team, but I also want to dedicate my weekend to Phillip Yau. My prayers and thoughts are with his family, friends, and everyone in Hong Kong Motorsport,” concluded a sombre O’Young.