A dramatic slice through the field from Marchy Lee secured third place for himself and Audi Hong Kong teammate Shaun Thong in Round 8 of Blancpain GT Series Asia. The podium finish made up somewhat for a challenging Round 7 for the Phoenix Racing Asia-serviced team in which an early puncture forced the car into the pits and out of a points-scoring finish in the misty, damp foothills of Mount Fuji, Japan.
The Audi Hong Kong pair have now consolidated second overall in the drivers’ championship on 101 points.
Just behind them on the overall leaderboard are OD Racing Team’s Aditya Patel and Mitch Gilbert, who leave the Fuji International Speedway on 77 points. The duo had a challenging weekend that saw them bring home their Absolute Racing-serviced car in eighth in Round 8 after finishing 11th in Round 7.
In Round 7, it was Davide Rizzo and Anthony Liu of BBT – racing for the first time in this series in an Audi R8 LMS GT3 – who secured the highest Audi finish in sixth, enough to see the pair climb the Pro/Am podium, second in class.
The podium was just reward for the pair who kept out of trouble in a bruising race that saw a number of Audi customer teams and drivers forced to charge through the 34-strong field from the back after spins, bumps and knocks littered the opening lap.
It was a testing weekend for the Am class leaders coming into Fuji, Naoto Takeda and Takuya Shirasaka of KCMG, who got a puncture in Round 7, finishing sixth in class, and whose Round 8 was cut short with a mechanical issue. They now sit second in class on 101 points overall, just 11 points from the top.
