For those that watched the opening GT Asia Series race at Shanghai unfold on-line or LIVE throughout Asia, they were treated to one of the best GT3 races on record, the result of which was three cars – all from different marques – running side-by-side across the finish line to end what had been an incredible 60-minute sprint from lights to flag.
The fact that two-time Formula One World Champion Mika Hakkinen was the man waving that flag was icing on the cake, the Mercedes-AMG ambassador treated to a fantastic display of driving that had fans on their feet over the closing laps as rain began to fall, paving the way for local hero Anthony Liu to breach an almost impossible gap to claim the win on the line, the second for the BBT Ferrari team this year.
The following day another epic drive by Keita Sawa and Jonathan Venter netted their third win of the year, putting them back in the title race, whilst the FFF Racing Team by ACM – who started the second race with both their cars on the front row – head into the final round of the season with a nine point lead after claiming second in race two.
The weekend had started with another brilliant drive, this time for Audi’s Alex Yoong, the former Formula One driver claiming pole in the opening qualifying session from England’s Duncan Tappy and fan-favourite Franky Cheng – the three cars covered by just 32 one-thousandths of a second.. In fact, the gap from pole to eleventh was less than a second, promising a battle to remember for the opening race which was contested across the full Grand Prix circuit, with a lap of over two minutes.
Session two though was very much about strategy and with the two FFF Racing Team by ACM Lamborghini Huracan GT3s claiming the front row from the local Ferrari of Anthony Liu, there was always likely to be fireworks. In the end the man who developed the new Lamborghini GT3 – Jeroen Mul – was too good for his team mate in qualifying, dropping Andrea Amici back to P2, and they created a headache for Liu off the line during Sunday’s second race and in the process, dropped the Ferrari team back to second in points heading into the final event of the year.
RESULTS
Race#1 (60-minutes)
1. 37. *Rizzo/Liu* (BBT Ferrari 488 GT3) – 28-laps
2. 9. Tappy/Inthraphuvasak (Absolute Bentley Continental GT3) +0.052
3. 6. Yoong/Au (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) +0.221
4. 5. Thong/Lee (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) +7.503
5. 55. Liberati/Amici (FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3) +30.971
6. 12. Van Dam/Bhirombhakdi (Singha Motorsport Ferrari 458 GT3) +32.820
7. 7. Fong/Kim (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) +33.188
8. 98. Sugden/Lester (GruppeM Racing Porsche GT3-R) +38.261
9. 13. Cheng/Sun (Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3) +44.516
10. 8. Venter/Sawa (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) +55.751
11. 68. Engel/Zhang (Mercedes-AMG GT3) + 1:05.900
12. 88. Lyons/Yu (Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche GT3-R) +1:34.275
13. 96. Zhang/Li (GruppeM Racing Porsche GT3-R) + 2:08.605
14. 66. Bastian/Solomon (Mercedes-AMG GT3) – 27-laps
15. 91. O’Young/Bhirombhakdi (Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche GT3-R) – 26-laps
16. 90. Lin/Chen (Team FIST with AAI Lamborghini Super Trofeo)
17. 15. Antinucci/Mul (FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3) – 9-laps
Race#2 (60-minutes)
1. 8.* Venter/Sawa* (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) – 28-laps
2. 55. Liberati/Amici (FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3) +11.515
3. 9. Tappy/Inthraphuvasak (Absolute Bentley Continental GT3) +13.386
4. 7. Fong/Kim (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) +14.425
5. 5. Thong/Lee (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) +17.096
6. 15. Mul/Antinucci (FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3) +20.292
7. 6. Au/Yoong (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) +20.851
8. 13. Sun/Cheng (Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3) +21.412
9. 66. Solomon/Bastian (Mercedes-AMG GT3) +23.647
10. 37. Liu/Rizzo (BBT Ferrari 488 GT3) +37.664
11. 68. Zhang/Engel (Mercedes-AMG GT3) + 44.805
12. 91. Bhirombhakdi/O’Young (Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche GT3-R) +47.468
13. 12. Bhirombhakdi/Van Dam (Singha Motorsport Ferrari 458 GT3) +50.850
14. 98. Lester/Sugden (GruppeM Racing Porsche GT3-R) +54.560
15. 96. Li/Zhang (GruppeM Racing Porsche GT3-R) +55.757
16. 88. Yu/Lyons (Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche GT3-R) +1:39.011
17. 90. Chen/Lin (Team FIST with AAI Lamborghini Super Trofeo) – 26-laps
