After a brilliant opening race at Okayama, the GT Asia Series field regrouped for a second round at the former Formula One venue on Sunday, and the legions of fans who attended the circuit and watched the event unfold live online, were not disappointed.
Ultimately victory went to Phoenix Racing Asia’s Marchy Lee and Shaun Thong, but not before one of the greatest races in recent GT Asia Series history, which included some of the best overtaking moves we’ve seen.
In a weekend of surprises, it was perhaps no surprise that the teams that have proven strongest over the opening rounds of the season were the ones standing on the podium – points leaders Anthony Liu and Davide Rizzo joined by Absolute Team Bentley’s winners from 24-hours prior, Adderly Fong and Andrew Kim.
Sadly for pole-sitter Keita Sawa and Jonathan Venter, the South Korean back-to-back winners suffered an horrendous weekend. Turned around in the first corner of the opening race, they suffered a rare mechanical failure in race two – perhaps as a result of the opening race contact – initiating a Safety Car intervention in the process, and that paved the way for a dramatic final 15 minutes.
In the Pro-Am battle the top points again went to Shaun Thong, who managed to close the gap slightly to Anthony Liu, whilst Andrew Kim’s third place saw the South Korean as the biggest mover in the category, closing in on the two leaders to put himself right into contention for the title.
