Coming into the first ever GT Asia Series endurance round, the emotions in the #77 JV Global Bentley Continental camp were upbeat, and why not, team-leader Jacky Yeung was a former Sepang 12-Hour race winner with Audi, and he and Duncan Tappy had just come off an extensive test session in the UK.

That multi-day session resulted in Yeung circulating the Malaysian Formula One circuit faster than he ever had before, and in pleasing news for the Absolute Racing Bentley team, he did it with relative ease, and with very few laps under his belt.

“It’s like anything you do, the more repetition there is, the more comfortable it is to duplicate,” the reigning GT Asia Series GTM class champion admitted.

“Spending a few days in the UK with Duncan turning laps was invaluable. We didn’t get the chance to circulate in a Bentley, but that didn’t matter, it was about car control and repetition, and finding a comfortable rhythm because we knew that with three hours of Sepang ahead of us, that we needed to find some pace, and we needed to be consistent.”

“Jacky drove very well in the UK, and that showed straight out of the box in practice at Sepang, he was quicker I think than many people expected, and just a couple of tenths off the pace off team-mate Jeffrey Lee,” Tappy explained.

“We kept at it all weekend, and even in the wet conditions, Jacky’s pace was excellent.”

Practice saw the #77 JV Global Bentley circulating towards the front of the field, with Tappy at times within reach of pole, but ultimately the grid was set by the combination of both driver’s qualifying times, Tappy an impressive seventh and well under the standing qualifying lap record, whilst ‘Tiger’ Jacky set the 13th fastest time with his fastest ever lap of Sepang.

With much discussion about which driver would start the car, the coin ultimately flipped in Tappy’s favour, the Englishman making a cautious start from the sixth row of the grid to work his way through the field to hand the car to Yeung in P3.

Yeung charged out of the pits to face the music from the Pro drivers, with the bulk of the field electing to start their faster driver in the second stint of the race, but no sooner had he settled into a comfortable rhythm, than he was faced with another challenge, this time mother nature as the heavens opened and the rain started to fall.

With no other choice but to pit, Yeung was back in for wet weather tyres, ahead of a solid run through his opening stint to hand the car back to Tappy in position nine.

The weather changed again forcing some decision making about when to pit for slicks, the #77 Bentley team electing to pit early, a decision which ultimately allowed Tappy to circulate faster than anyone else on the circuit as he moved back into P4 ahead of the final compulsory pit stop.

From there Yeung maintained a consistent pace to cross the line classified in sixth place, in the process earning more valuable championship points to leap-frog into eight in the championship in just his debut season in the outright category.

“I’ve never driven so hard in my life,” Yeung laughed post-race. “They were the most testing conditions I’ve ever driven in. At times there were just a couple of corners that were wet, and the rest of the track was dry, so you had to be so careful. My focus was on finishing and gaining points, that was the most important thing, then leave Duncan to go after track position.

“I’d also given Duncan my cool-suit, because the Malaysian conditions were so tough, that he really needed it more than I because he was doing the longer stints, but it was very hot. I’m really pleased with our sixth placed finish, and to be second Bentley across the line, I’m very happy.”

“Jacky really drove well,” Tappy added. “It may not have looked it, but it was very slippery at times out there, and there was a lot going on. I was lucky, I was on track against many of the amateur drivers, whereas Jacky was on track with most of the Pros, yet we still managed to record a sixth placed finish. Given we were looking for a top seven in the field of drivers that were competing, I’d have to say we’re very happy with the result!”

With the Sepang 3-Hour round now complete, focus turns to the penultimate round of the season, with the GT Asia Series returning to Shanghai International Circuit in China with two scheduled 60-minute sprint races providing the Tiger Racing GT/JV Global team a chance to move forward in the championship once again although sadly without Yeung at the wheel.

“I have family commitments elsewhere the same weekend, so fellow Audi R8 Cup driver Andrew Kim from Korea will take over the wheel alongside Duncan,” Yeung explained.

“He is a very fast Am driver, and has won the Am division a couple of times in the Audi series, so I expect he will do very well. I’ll be back in the seat for the final round at Buriram [Thailand] looking for a strong finish to what has been a memorable season.”