Australian Jake Parsons boosted his Formula Masters China Series hopes by scoring two podium finishes to stay in touch with championship leader Martin Rump.

The 20-year-old challenged Rump in the first of two races at the Penbay International circuit in Taiwan, but the Estonian had the measure of the Sydney racer as he went on to record a clean sweep of victories.

Reigning Asia Cup Series champion Parsons managed to stay within a second of Rump in the first encounter but finished five seconds adrift in the second race.

The Meritus GP driver slipped back to fourth in the final race as fellow Australian Nicolas Rowe, who finished third in the opening two races, came home in second with Britain’s Sennan Fielding in third.

The third Australian competing in the series, Aidan Read, finished fourth in Race 1 before a retirement in the second contest.

He finished the weekend on a positive note with a drive to fifth in the third and final race.

Rump’s dominance has seen him open up a 21 point lead in the championship standings.

The Formula Masters China Series heads to the Kuala Lumpur Street Circuit on August 7-9.

Audi R8 LMS Cup

DTM star Edoardo Mortara scored a lights-to-flag victory as the the Audi R8 LMS Cup made its debut at the Penbay International circuit.

The Italian made no mistakes from pole position as he held off Franky Cheng to take victory by 1.3s in the first of three races.

Denmark’s Thomas Fjordbach claimed the final place on the podium ahead of Aditya Patel.

Cheng emerged as the star of Race 2 as the 30-year-old Chinese driver took the chequered flag by 4.3s from Patel and former Formula 1 driver Alex Yoong.

The race was not without drama as Mortara, who took the chequered flag on the road, was handed a 30 second time penalty for contact with Fjordbach as he attempted to grab the lead.

Fjordbach bounced back from his Race 2 incident to win the final contest as he came through a close battle with Yoong.

The pair were separated by half a second at the flag with Cheng a tenth back in third ahead of Mortara.

A solid display from Patel in all three races saw the Indian driver open up a four point lead in the championship ahead of the next round at Sepang in August.