This weekend Asia’s most successful sportscar championship will return to Shanghai for the first time since 2009 to contest the penultimate round of the 2014 GT Asia Series, and with just nine points separating the top four teams (on adjusted points), the title contenders will be desperate to establish an advantage ahead of the final event of the season at Macau in four weeks time.
Leading the title chase outright is Japanese favourite Hiroshi Hamaguchi alongside McLaren factory driver Rob Bell in the Clearwater Racing McLaren MP4-12C. The duo have led the championship since the second event of the season at Autopolis in Japan, but have struggled to make the podium over the last two events in Malaysia and are under pressure to claim their first outright win of the year!
That has opened the door for the most successful driver in GT Asia Series history – Clearwater Racing team-leader Mok Weng Sun and his Japanese co-driver Keita Sawa. They have taken four wins in 2014, two of them at Sepang in Malaysia, and are now just two points behind Hamaguchi and Bell, but just six points ahead of the team that stunned the series regulars with back-to-back round wins during the season opener in South Korea – BBT Ferrari pairing Anthony Liu Xu and Davide Rizzo.
Fourth in the list of contenders is Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Frank Yu. He has had three wins so far in season 2014, but two of them under a cloud, and one of which he is trying to recover through the FIA in a court of appeal. On adjusted points (drop your two worst point scoring rounds), the reigning series runner-up is just nine points off the lead and right in the title fight heading to China with Englishman Richard Lyons once more alongside.
Sadly for Hamaguchi and Bell, the high temperatures and humidity of Malaysia impacted the performance of their twin-turbo 3.8-litre McLaren V8 allowing Mok and Sawa to close the points deficit heading to Shanghai where weather is not expected to play a big part in the result allowing the McLaren duo to chase their first outright victory of the year.
“Taking the win at Autopolis after another team was scratched from the result isn’t the way I like to win races, but certainly, I’d like to think that if Hiroshi and I can win the championship, we’d like to be able to do it with at least one outright win under our belts,” Bell admitted in Malaysia.
Their biggest threat is arguably the #3 Clearwater Racing Ferrari of dual-GT Asia Series champion Mok Weng Sun, a 15-time winner in the series over the last five years, a record that is almost double that of the next biggest winner in the series, Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Frank Yu (8 wins). That said, the third placed team of BBT Ferrari drivers Anthony Liu Xu and Davide Rizzo are also well within reach of the title, and they’ve shown both speed and consistency right from the start of their debut season in GT Asia and with Shanghai considered their ‘home’ round, they will be keen to take another win and put themselves in contention for the title at the hotly contested Macau event on November 16.
Whilst Hamaguchi and Bell lead on outright points, on adjusted points it’s Mok and Sawa that lead heading into China on 117 points to Liu Xu/Rizzo’s 115, with the McLaren pairing third on 112, just four points ahead of Yu.. whatever happens, the fight between the top four teams at Shanghai will be intense as the series heads to its conclusion at Macau.
Whilst the battle at the front of the field will provide plenty of interest, so too will the Asian debut of one of the most desired GT3 cars in the world – the British-built Bentley Continental GT3. China’s Absolute Racing will manage the car, and with French GT regulars Jean-Karl Vernay and Gilles Vannelet behind the wheel, it is sure to be mixing it with the series front-runners.
Don’t discount German hot-shot Christopher Mies who returns once more with team-mate and fellow Fuji round winner Jeffrey Lee, the Taipei-based Audi driver knows the Shanghai circuit well and in one of the most successful GT3 cars in the world this year, they could well be the surprise package.
Whilst the battle for outright championship victory in the GT3 class will be a highlight of the Shanghai round, so too the GTM class for ‘Challenge’ class and ‘Cup’ cars. Danish driver Thomas Fjordbach returned to the top of the GTM standings after round ten at Sepang, but only after a rare failure by title rival, 2012 champion Jacky Yeung. Yeung’s DNF allowed Fjordbach’s Taiwan Top Speed Racing team-mate George Chou to leap ahead of him in the points, and with the two Ferrari drivers now together once more in the same car, he will have his work cut out for him, but the Audi driver has an ace up his sleeve for Shanghai..
12-months ago rising open-wheel star Matt Solomon was plucked out of relative obscurity to join former Formula One world champion Mika Hakkinen for the Zhuhai round of the GT Asia Series, the pairing winning on debut. Solomon has since made cameo appearances in GT Asia, and finished strongly on the podium during the recent Sepang 12-Hour in the lead Audi R8.
Like the outright fight, there are three teams in the championship battle, and whilst Yeung is just ten points behind Fjordbach in the outright points (and four behind Chou), former 500cc motorcycle star Takuma Aoki is just two points behind him (although two points up on adjusted points), the paralysed Japanese driver – together with co-driver Ken Urata – have been one of the hottest combinations in recent rounds, and can be expected to challenge in their Dilango Racing Lamborghini.
The Shanghai round also signals the final event of the AAMC Macau GT Cup, where Mok Weng Sun and Keita Sawa (88-points) are holding a handy points advantage over Ferrari rivals Anthony Liu Xu and Davide Rizzo (73-points) and team-mates Hiroshi Hamaguchi and Rob Bell (65-points).
2014 GT Asia Series – Shanghai International Circuit, China (10-12 October)
EVENT SCHEDULE;
Thursday, 9 October
10:00am – Unofficial Practice #1 (30-minutes)
10:40am – Unofficial Practice #2 (30-minutes)
4:20pm – Unofficial Practice #3 (30-minutes)
Friday, 10 October
3:30pm – Qualifying #1 (10-minutes)
3:50pm – Qualifying #2 (10-minutes)
Saturday, 11 October
9:50am – Race #1 (40-minutes)
Sunday, 12 October
9:00am – Race #2 (40-minutes)
Shanghai (China) time; GMT +8 hours
THE GT ASIA SERIES AND SHANGHAI
The GT Asia Series will be making its debut in Shanghai as the last time the GT3-based category competed in China’s largest city was 2009 as part of the – then – GT3 Asia Challenge championship. The first two events of the 2009 season were held at Shanghai with race wins shared between the Lamborghini of Eddie Yau, the Porsche of series champion Tunku Hammam Sulong and the Ferrari 430 of Francis Tjia (two wins).
The current ‘GT’ lap record of the 5.451-kilometre 16-turn circuit is 2:05.146 and held by LMGTE-Pro driver Darren Turner in an Aston Martin Vantage GTE, but ominously for the GT Asia Series field, whilst many of the drivers that last competed at the Chinese circuit won’t be at the venue this weekend, one driver that will, is the reigning LMGTE-Am lap record holder, Rui Aguas (Ferrari 458 Italia GTE – 2:05.900).
Aguas was the pace-setter at both the August and September rounds of the GT Asia Series at Sepang in Malaysia in the ‘Spirit of Race’ Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 he shares with car-owner Nasrat Muzayyin, and with his local track knowledge, could be expected to be a contender for pole position once more, something which may play into the hands of their team-mates, Liu Xu and Rizzo..
WHERE TO WATCH..
Keep track of race four of the 2014 GT Asia Series from Shanghai via the AFOS website – www.afos.com via Facebook; www.facebook.com/GTAsiaSeries and through YouTube; www.youtube.com/user/afosTV
WHO’S COMPETING AT SHANGHAI?
GT3 CLASS
3. Mok Weng Sun (SIN)/Keita Sawa (JPN) – Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3
4. Jean-Karl Vernay (FRA)/Gilles Vannelet (FRA) – Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3
7. Jeffrey Lee (TPE)/Christopher Mies (GER) – Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra
9. Jiang Xin (CHN)/Massimiliano Wiser (ITA) – NB Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3
12. Richard Wee (SIN)/Matthew Griffin (IRE) – Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3
15. Tit Lung Siu (HKG)/Earl Bamber (NZL) – LKM Racing Porsche 997 GT3-R
17. Jingzu Sun (CHN)/Jian Wei Wang (CHN) – Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra
32. Hiroshi Hamaguchi (JPN)/Rob Bell (GBR) – Clearwater Racing McLaren MP4-12C
37. Anthony Liu (CHN)/Davide Rizzo (HKG) – BBT Team by AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT3
38. Nasrat Muzayyin (SIN)/Rui Aguas (POR) – Spirit of Race by AF Corse Ferrari 458 GT3
55. Yuk Lung Siu (HKG) – LKM Racing Racing Gallardo LP560 GT3
66. Dasheng Zhang (CHN)/Chao Li (CHN) – Porsche 997 GT3-R
89. Benny Lim (HKG) – FUN88 Racing Gallardo FL2 GT3
93. Joe Hsu (TPE)/Tsung Han Lin (TPE) – Team AAI Rstrada McLaren MP4-12C
97. Frank Yu (HKG)/Richard Lyons (GBR) – Craft Bamboo Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3
98. Alex Yoong (MAS)/Phillip Ma (HKG) – Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra
99. Jonathon Venter (AUS)/Daniel Bilski (HKG) – Craft Bamboo Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3
GTM CLASS
8. Keo Chang (TPE)/Robert Lee (TPE) – Taiwan Top Speed Ferrari 458 Challenge
18. Craig Liu (TPE)/Ryo Fukuda (TPE) – Taiwan Top Speed Ferrari 458 Challenge
22. K.S. Wang (TPE)/Naoki Yokomizo (JPN) – Taiwan Top Speed Ferrari 458 Challenge
25. Christian Chia (CAN) – IMS Audi R8 LMS Cup
26. Johnson Huang (TPE) – Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS Cup
34. Takuma Aoki (JPN)/Ken Urata (JPN) – Dilango Racing Lamborghini Gallardo LP560 GT3
69. Cia Mengtao (CHN)/Lin Juncheng (CHN) – Porsche GT3 Cup Car
77. Jacky Yeung (HKG)/Matt Solomon (HKG) – Tiger Racing Team Audi R8 LMS Cup
88. George Chou (TPE)/Thomas Fjordbach (DEN) – Taiwan Top Speed Ferrari 458 Challenge
2014 GT Asia Series – Championship points
(after round 10 of 13)
Overall
1. Rob Bell/Hiroshi Hamaguchi (127-points), 3. Mok Weng Sun/Keita Sawa (125), 5. Davide Rizzo/Anthony Liu (119), 7. Frank Yu (108), 8. Max Wiser (96), 9. Kane Jiang (66), 9. Jeffrey Lee (66), 11. Richard Wee (64), 12. Christoper Mies (54), 13. Stefan Mucke (51), 14. Nasrat Muzayyin/Rui Aguas (47), 16. Craig Baird (42), 18. Alex Yoong (35), 18. Richard Lyons (34), 18. Jonathon Venter (34), 20, Lucas Guerrero (30), 21. Dilantha Malagamuwa (24), 22. Warren Luff (23), 23. Alessandro Guidi (22), 24. Daniel Bilski (20), 25. Carlo Van Dam/Tanart Sathienthirakul, Vuttikhorn Inthraphuvasak/Piti Bhirombhakdi (17), 30. Tatsuya Kataoka/Taiyou Iida (16), 32. Nathan Antunes, Tetuysa Tanaka/Motoyoshi Yoshida (15), 35. Kevin Gleason (14)
GTM Class
1. Thomas Fjordbach (124-points), 2. George Chou (118), 3. Jacky Yeung (114), 4. Takuma Aoki (112), 5. Wayne Shen (84), 6. Francis Tjia (74), 7. John Shen (70), 8. Ken Urata (66), 9. Keith Vong (44), 10. Keo Chang (39), 11. Robert Lee (30), 12. Craig Liu (27), 13. Samson Chan, Joe Hsu Cheng Chang (26), 15. Terry Fang, Ashraf Dewal (24), 17. Fukujirou (21), 18. Satoshi Hoshino, Scott Miau, Christian Chia, Marchy Lee (18), 19. Marcel Tjia (17), 20. Francis Hideki Onda (15), 21. Ryu Fukuda, Joseph Chua/Rick Cheang (14), 24. Ryu Ohtsuka, Nick Edwards, Ishihara Masayuki, Gamisan (10), 28. Juncheng Lin/James Cai (9), 30, Dominic Ang/Anthony Chan (8), 32. Lin Tsung Han (6)
2014 AAMC Macau GT Cup – Championship points
(after round 6 of 8)
1. Mok Weng Sun/Keita Sawa (88-points), 3. Davide Rizzo/Anthony Liu (73), 5. Rob Bell/Hiroshi Hamaguchi (65), 7. Jeffrey Lee/Chris Mies, Max Wiser (53), 10. Frank Yu/Stefan Mucke (51), 12. Richard Wee (39), 13. Jonathan Venter (31), 14. Lucas Guerrero (30), 15. Nasrat Muzayyin/Rui Aguas (26), 17. Kane Jiang (23), 18. Alessandro Guidi (20), 19. Craig Baird, Dilantha Malagamuwa (19), 21. Vuttikhorn Inthraphuvasak/Piti Bhirombhakdi, Daniel Bilski (17), 24. Tatsuya Kataoka/Taiyou Iida, Alex Yoong /Phillip Ma (16), 28. Nathan Antunes (15), 29. Kevin Gleason (14), 30. Samson Chan/Naoki Yokomizo (13)
The GT Asia Series is sanctioned by the FIA as an International Series and is clearly recognised as the Region’s leading GT Championship. It is jointly managed and promoted by Motorsport Asia Ltd and the Supercar Club Hong Kong and is backed by Yokohama, GRAHAM, KW Automotive, Auto Art, Race Room, RacerLink and Tunewear.
2014 GT Asia Series – calendar
Rnd#1/#2, 16-18 May – Korea International Circuit, South Korea (AFOS)
Rnd#3/#4, 30 May-1 June – Autopolis International Circuit, Japan (SGT)
Rnd#5/#6, 11-13 July – Fuji International Speedway, Japan (Super Formula)
Rnd#7/#8, 15-17 August – Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia (AFOS)
Rnd#9/#10, 12-14 September – Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia (MSS)
Rnd#11/#12, 10-12 October – Shanghai International Circuit, China (WTCC)
Rnd#13, 14-16 November – Guia Circuit, Macau (MGP)