Clearwater Racing claimed their first race win for the 2013 season with the McLaren 12C GT3 driven by Hiroshi Hamaguchi and Mok Weng Sun. The duo had a spectacular outing in a battle filled GT Asia Series Round 5 race held at Fuji International Circuit. Crossing the line in second, the McLaren duo benefited from a pit-stop infringement penalty imposed on the Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT3 duo of Stefan Muecke and Frank Yu. The Craft Racing AMR team were given a 30 second time added penalty at the end of the race, relegating them down to fourth.
Li Zhi Cong fought hard in Asia Racing Team’s Porsche 997 GT3 R. He started the race in sixth but made a steady climb through the battling field to claim second at the end of the race.
Third place went to newcomer Akira Iida in AAI-RSTRADA’s McLaren. The podium finish was a slight consolation for the team as their teammate, Chen Jun San had to rush back to Taiwan after the demise of his father.
Craft Racing’s second Aston, courtesy of team Arnage Racing who loaned them their car for the weekend, after the Ford GT3 suffered from a blown engine after the practice sessions, finished the difficult race in twelfth. The car and the drivers had the pace but a string of bad luck during the race caused them to drop down the order. But the duo was thankful to the team for working hard to ensure that they were able to race over the weekend.
Behind the duo was the Porsche 997 Cup 3.8 of Keith Vong who crossed the line ahead of Dijon Racing’s specially modified Corvette Z06R GT with handicapped driver Aoki Takuma and his driver partner, Tsuruta Kazuya. This was the first time out for the duo in the Series and they are impressed at the level of competition in the Series. Dilantha Malagamuwa shared driving duties with his friend Jacky Yeung for the weekend in the Lamborghini Gallardo GT. The duo had a tough weekend, finishing the race in 15th ahead of John Shen and Shim Ching both in Porsche 997 Cup 3.8’s. The GT Asia Series continues tomorrow with Round 6 scheduled to be held at 4.30pm local time.
