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.
Qualifying#1
As they had done through Friday’s three official practice sessions, Audi were quick straight out of the box, but this time it was Alex Yoong who laid down the early benchmark, a time which was ultimately unbeaten across the 15-minute session. Yoong though did suffer a few anxious moments back in the garage over the dying stages of the opening qualifier as both long-time rival Franky Cheng and Bentley’s Duncan Tappy got close. In the end, the margin between the three cars was just 32 one thousandths of a second, paving the way for a momentous opening race.
Sadly for the man who had thrown down the gauntlet with the fastest lap of the day during official practice on Friday – Yoong’s Phoenix Racing Asia team-mate – Marchy Lee, he was forced to sit out much of qualifying with a technical issue with their transaxle gearbox, the team ultimately forced to make an overnight change, but the damage had been done forcing two starts from much further back in the field than they’d deserved.
Not surprisingly, AMG were right in the mix with both their cars, with very little separating the ‘King of Macau’ – Maro Engel – and the second car of Nico Bastian – Engel claimed the top spot over his younger team-mate, but the margin between the two cars was a mere 13 one hundredths of a second, for fourth and fifth on the grid. That result saw them qualify ahead of the man who had been so dominant at Shanghai in the previous two GT Asia Series visits, Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Richard Lyons.
Despite signing on the elite pairing of Richard Antinucci and Jeroen Mul to pilot the second of the FFF Racing Team by ACM Lamborghini’s, it was the points leading #55 car who emerged on top in Q1, Edoardo Liberati posting the seventh fastest time ahead of title rival Davide Rizzo who admitted his goal for the weekend was to stay ahead of the two young Italian’s in the black Huracan.. South Korean round winner Jonathan Venter was next quickest, the young Australian admitting they weren’t working 100% in unison with their #8 Bentley Continental GT3, but that didn’t stop the Absolute Racing team from working tirelessly to find the sweet spot, whilst Antinucci rounded out the top ten.
Fuji winners Singha Motorsport were next, the first car outside the ten and still within a second of the pole time, whilst Shaun Thong was able to eke out a handful of laps before the gearbox issue sidelined the gold #5 car.
The returning Dasheng Zhang took top honours for the GruppeM Racing team, posting the 13th fastest time, whilst Tim Sugden admitted the team were struggling to find a good baseline setup for the Chinese F1 venue, and were further back than they would have liked..
Darryl O’Young claimed the 15th spot on the grid, side-by-side with 2015 title rival Adderly Fong, the Hong Kong driver just happy to be in the field after a big accident in practice forced an overnight rebuild by the Absolute Racing team, the only drama a loose turbo pipe which kept him from posting a quick lap.
Rounding out the field was the Team FIST with AAI Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo with Lin Yu behind the wheel, the GTM class crew just over four seconds shy of O’Young’s Porsche.
Qualifying#2
Ten minutes after the excitement of the opening qualifier, the teams were back in action again for Q2, and very quickly it looked like being a FFF Racing Team by ACM whitewash, with Jeroen Mul and Andrea Amici battling over the top spot whilst Friday’s pace setter Marchy Lee looked on helplessly in the garage.
As expected, Anthony Liu got in on the action and at one stage had split the two Lamborghini’s before Andrea Amici put in a late flyer to take back P2 whilst behind them, Jonathan Venter showed impressive pace to claim a fourth placed start.
Former GT Asia Series race winner Matt Solomon was next, taking the gorgeous #66 Mercedes-AMG Driving Academy-Team AAI AMG GT3 to P5 ahead of the ever-improving Vutthikorn Inthrapuvasak. Alex Au carried on the impressive pace of team-leader Alex Yoong to claim P7, just ahead of New Zealand’s returning Jono Lester who admitted that like Sugden, they were struggling to find the perfect balance in the GruppeM Racing Porsche GT3-R.
Sun JingZu claimed ninth in his best ever effort in qualifying, showing immense improvement, the Chinese driver proving just how comfortable the amateur drivers are with extracting pace from the new Audi R8 LMS, whilst Andrew Kim rounded out the ten, the South Korean driver lamenting a lack of laps after team-mate Fong’s accident on Friday afternoon.
Piti Bhirombhakdi was a frustrated eleventh, the Thai driver back a lot further than could have been expected, qualifying half a second clear of his cousin Naiyanobh ‘Toy’ Bhirombhakdi in the #91 VLT Porsche of reigning champion Darryl O’Young.
Li Chao was next ahead of Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Frank Yu with Jun San Chen doing an impressive job in the GTM class Lamborghini to be 15th ahead of GT3 rookie Zhang Wenhe, whilst Marchy Lee was classified last despite being stranded in the pits with a technical issue, setting up what would be an inspirational drive through the field on Sunday afternoon.
Race#1 (Round#9)
Just a week prior to Shanghai, Phoenix Racing Asia’s Alex Yoong had stormed from pole in the Audi R8 LMS Cup to victory in Malaysia holding out DTM star Edoardo Mortara in a great display of driving that was set up by some brilliant team strategy with car setup. That allowed the former F1 star to bolt away from the field off the line, and it was clear they were employing a similar strategy for the opening race in China.
Yoong very quickly grabbed the lead from Franky Cheng off the line, but Duncan Tappy had made a better start than the local hero, firing the #9 Bentley up the inside into turn one to drop Cheng back to third.
Behind them Maro Engel grabbed fourth from team-mate Nico Bastian, with Richard Lyons sixth, although the experience GT Asia Series campaigner was soon back through to fifth, taking Bastian at turn three, whilst behind them Edo Liberati managed to stay ahead of title rival Davide Rizzo.
As he had done a week before, Yoong started to eke out a small gap to Tappy, but sadly for the Malaysian, he wasn’t able to stretch or maintain it, Tappy quickly locking in under the rear wing of the Takchun/Double Duck Audi and applying maximum pressure.
Yoong did everything he could to hold the position and he did so for much of the opening stint before Tappy ultimately made a move stick up the inside at turn one, although not without the slightest of touches as Yoong moved across to try and protect his lead. From there Tappy bolted, but like Yoong, his advantage was short-lived as traffic came into play allowing the Malaysian to tuck in behind him as they came in for the compulsory pit stop [CPS] in the closing stages of the pit-stop window.
Behind the leading trio Maro Engel was sitting in a watching brief, whilst behind him, Nico Bastian had worked his way past Lyons in the Porsche to lock onto the tail of his team-mate, and at one stage in traffic, pull alongside..
Further back the championship battle was firing up, and Davide Rizzo was caught between a pair of Lamborghinis, but that battle was soon won in favour of the Ferrari who entered the pits early to bolt on a fresh set of rubber and send Anthony Liu out to complete the job.
Sadly for Richard Antinucci who’d been holding down a strong position inside the top ten, a tyre failure on the left rear after contact earlier in the race saw the American forced off the circuit and out of the race ahead of the scheduled stop.
After the stops were completed though it was Thailand’s Vutthikorn Inthrapuvasak who held a strong lead over Alex Au in the #6 Audi he shared with Alex Yoong, the former Audi Cup Amateur Class champion charging early to quickly catch the #9 Bentley, whilst behind them, Anthony Liu was on a mission, working his way through the pack to be third but more than 20-seconds back with 15 minutes remaining in the race.
Au looked to be the greatest threat to Vutthikorn’s lead, but as the Audi driver was preparing to make a move, light rain began to fall, the ‘Parabolica’ especially wet which caused some concern for the Bentley driver who had been struggling with exit-oversteer.
That was all the incentive that Liu needed, the two drivers in front of him losing up to four seconds a lap on the local Ferrari as Liu ranged in to catch them for a three-way fight for the lead.
Two laps from home he made a huge dive under brakes at turn 11, running well past the corner and into the runoff zone, Alex Au later admitting he could see the Ferrari coming so braked as late as he dared, allowing Vutthikorn a brief reprieve.
Very quickly Liu was back on their tail and through on Au ahead of the final lap, the three drivers doing everything they could to hang on in the slippery conditions, with drive off the corners almost impossible to come by. In the end it came down to the final corner, with Liu side-by-side with the Bentley on the run into the final corner, but out of position for a move, but Vutthikorn was off the ideal line on the exit allowing the Ferrari to pull alongside. At the same time Au pulled inside the two of them, all three involved in a drag race to the line with limited traction, Liu getting the best of it to win by just five one hundredths of a second, with Au making it three cars across the line in two tenths of a second..
Fourth ultimately was Marchy Lee who put in a meteoric drive from towards the back of the field to finish just seven seconds behind the leaders, with Andrea Amici keeping the FFF Racing Team by ACM’s title hopes alive with fifth in the dying stages, the result drawing them equal on points with race winners Liu and Rizzo heading into the tenth round of the season.
Sadly for AMG, Amici’s result came in part as a consequence of the retirement of the Matt Solomon Mercedes-AMG GT3, the young Hong Kong driver comfortably the fastest driver on track during his early laps after the CPS, but a technical issue with the gearbox saw him rapidly drop from Liu’s tail and back down the order before the team instructed him to pull off the circuit on the final lap. A quick look at his face post-race revealed what may well have been a repeat performance of his incredible debut win in GT Asia in 2013 with Mika Hakkinen.
After a tough qualifier, Piti Bhirombhakdi drove brilliantly through the damp conditions to claim sixth, ahead of Andrew Kim in the #7 Bentley and Jono Lester who put in a storming drive over the closing laps in the #98 GruppeM Porsche.
Sun JingZu (Audi) and Keita Sawa (Bentley) completed the ten, with Maro Engel’s team-mate – rookie Zhang Wenhe – an impressive eleventh on debut despite limited laps in the new AMG GT3 and in testing conditions.
Frank Yu was next across the line in the Interush Porsche GT3 R from Li Chao in the second GruppeM Porsche, whilst the Lin/Chen combination claimed the win in the GTM Class in the Team FIST by AAI Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo.
Race#2 (Round#10)
The opening race might have been exciting but even before a lap was turned for Sunday’s tenth round race you could feel the tension in pit lane with the championship entering the last but two races of the year. The emotions continued on the grid which had attracted a number of local celebrities, one of which was Shanghai’s former NBA basketball superstar Yao Ming, standing beside him, the relatively diminutive Mika Hakkinen – this race was building up to be the highlight of the year..
As expected the FFF Racing Team by ACM Lamborghinis were quickly into formation in turn one, with Mul leading Amici who was holding the fast starting Liu at bay in third, the Ferrari driver though under attack from Keita Sawa and Matt Solomon.
Perfectly to the script, by the close of the lap Amici was through on Mul who acted as ‘tail gunner’ for the his title contending team-mate, keeping Liu at bay as the #55 Huracan began to punch out a sequence of fastest laps at the front of the field.
Sadly for the #37 Ferrari, there was little Liu could do about Mul, having used two sets of their prime Michelin tyres in the opening race, Liu had little to offer the leaders, instead he was doing his best to defend from attack by Sawa behind him.
For Sawa and team-mate Jonathan Venter, they knew that race two was their chance to get back into the title fight, and Sawa was on a charge. Quickly through on Liu, he set off after the leaders and quickly caught Mul who managed to stay in front ahead of his CPS. After building an eleven second lead, Amici was into the pits for his CPS at the mid-point of the race, handing the car to team-mate Edoardo Liberati who emerged from the pits behind new race leader Tim Sugden.
That lead battle very quickly became a three-way affair with Jonathan Venter emerging from pit lane to pull alongside Liberati on the run into turn one, the Australian keeping the joint points-leader at bay before settling into a comfortable rhythm to set off in pursuit of Sugden.
Venter was quickly through, but behind him – mindful of the bigger picture – Liberati took a more conservative approach and the experienced Sugden was well aware that the young Italian would not jeopardise points with any desperate moves, so he was able to hold the Lamborghini at bay for a number of laps.
Sadly, despite showing pace good enough for a podium position, Sugden was forced down pit lane, an investigation revealing that the team had released him too soon during the CPS, incurring a frustrating drive-through penalty as a result, a position which also claimed the #66 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Matt Solomon and Nico Bastian, which effectively ended their charge for the podium.
Behind the leaders Duncan Tappy and Adderly Fong were on a charge through the pack, Tappy though on older rubber, whilst Fong was taking advantage of a fresh set of tyres, the team shuffling the order to let the Hong Kong driver through, although very quickly Tappy showed his used tyre pace was better, the Englishman taking back the position in the closing stages to cross the line third, two seconds down on Liberati.
Up front though there was no denying the winner, Jonathan Venter setting a cracking pace to cross the line almost 12-seconds clear of the field, whilst Marchy Lee and Shaun Thong put in one of the drives of the day to claim fifth behind Adderly Fong after starting from the rear of the field.
Richard Antinucci crossed the line sixth, with the hard charging Alex Yoong in the #6 Audi locked under his rear wing with Franky Cheng right on his tail.
Nico Bastian recovered for ninth, with Davide Rizzo a frustrated tenth, splitting the two Mercedes-AMG GT3s, the result dropping the BBT Ferrari team to second in the points. Starting well back in the pack, Maro Engel was comfortably the fastest driver in the field over the closing laps, the 2016 Nurburgring 24-Hour race winner setting a new lap record for the F1 circuit of 2:06.224 as he battled his way through the pack.
Darryl O’Young recovered 12th for the Craft-Bamboo Racing team after a frustrating opening stanza of the race which saw his team-mate ‘Toy’ Bhirombhakdi and team-boss Frank Yu making contact on the way into turn one. That spun both cars around, and saw Yu stranded mid-circuit facing the flow of traffic and unable initially to get the car started. For a brief moment that brought the Safety Car onto the circuit, but the Series veteran was able to recover, handing Richard Lyons the car at the start of the CPS to go on and complete the race.
Carlo Van Dam was another driver forced to make a recovery, the Fuji race winner working his way back through the field despite a slow leak in a tyre to claim 13th ahead of Sugden, whilst Zhang Dasheng crossed the line on the tail of his GruppeM team-mate just clear of Lyons in the identical Porsche GT3 R, whilst Lin Yu completed the field in the GTM Class Lamborghini.
As a result of their second placed finish and the struggle across the final laps by the BBT Ferrari team, the title fight comes down to the wire once more – a haulmark of the GT Asia Series over recent years – with Liberati and Amici holding a nine point lead over Liu and Rizzo, the Ferrari drivers though just a similar distance clear of a string of teams including two-time winners Marchy Lee and Shaun Thong, Okayama winners Adderly Fong and Andrew Kim, and their Bentley team-mate Vutthikorn Inthrapuvasak.