It was a dominant win today which went trouble free for the pair with car #97 of Stefan Mücke (DEU) and Frank Yu (GBR) on a sizzling Sepang International Circuit crossing the line with a margin of 6.520 seconds. Fate wasn’t the same for the #99 of Aussie duo with Jonathan Venter and Daniel Bilski when they suffered some shifting troubles just six laps into the race. The crew worked quickly and expertly to rectify the issue, allowing Bilski to continue the race, bringing the car home to the chequered flag.
The race started on a dry track with the sun coming out just half an hour before the race, after heavy rains which started in the morning. Mücke started the race for the #97 Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT3 in fifth whilst Venter was two rows behind, starting the race in ninth.
The German got off to a good start and was immediately up to third as he approached turn one and began his push from there. The Aston Martin factory driver was quickly catching up to the leading duo and by the end of the first lap, he was right behind Christopher Mies and taking second under-braking into turn one.
From there it was just maintaining the pace and keeping the car in a good position before handing the car over to Yu during the pit-stop session. After the driver change, car #97 was in third and Yu managed to overtake the two lead cars two laps later, for the lead, one which he held all the way to the chequered flag. Venter was driving a very strong stint which saw the young Aussie putting in strong lap times to stay with the pack of strong experienced pros. He managed to overtake the car of Davide Rizzo for ninth on lap four, but soon ran into shifting issues which forced him to pit the car two laps later.
The crew worked efficiently to fix the gearbox but the precarious position of the shift compressor meant that they had to take a lot of time to change the component. After almost 15 minutes in the pit, dropping down the grid with a 10 lap gap, Bilski got in the seat to finish the race and bring the car home. Although behind, Bilski took the opportunity to learn the car and set fast lap times throughout his run to the flag. Both Venter and Bilski drove a great race with consistent pace and are working with the engineers and mechanics for the race tomorrow.
