It’s easy to use rhetoric to describe a season as the ‘best on record’, however the 2015 GT Asia Series is fast becoming just that, with three world-class teams battling for the title as we turn to Shanghai in China for the penultimate round of the season.
Just three weeks ago we were in Malaysia for the inaugural Sepang 3-Hour where the season’s opening round winners Anthony Liu and Davide Rizzo claimed their second win of the year, and with it, second in the championship race, just two points in arrears of Bentley’s Keita Sawa and Adderly Fong, and only two points clear of Darryl O’Young.
It may be an ominous sign, but the standout GT Asia Series performers at Shanghai 12-months ago were local heroes Liu and Rizzo, the pair taking a pole apiece in qualifying against some of the hottest GT3 drivers on the planet, and the opening round win – if not for an argument over real estate in the opening laps of race two, a battle won by heavyweight debutante Bentley – the duo may have won both races AND gone on to win the championship..
For their title rivals, this weekend also presents ‘double the trouble’, with the #37 BBT team joined by fellow Shanghai residents Max Wiser and Jiang Xin in a second Ferrari 458 Italia, the pair having campaigned the red and yellow ‘Spirit of Race’ Ferrari during the Fuji round in the absence of the BBT pair, recording an impressive podium result on their Ferrari debut. 12-months ago the local pairing were also big trouble for their rivals at home, and armed with their own 458, they could claim valuable championship points to assist their team-mates’ title aspirations this weekend.
There will be plenty of challengers though. Don’t discount the Craft-Bamboo Racing Aston Martin team. They’ve been right at the pointy end of the field all season, with both cars showing considerable pace, however it has been the #99 VLT entry of Darryl O’Young and Jonathon Venter who were best able to convert their pace into results, whilst team-boss Frank Yu and Richard Lyons were often caught out in on-track battles which forced them to forgo valuable championship points.
Sadly for the #99 team though, they lost young Australian Venter due to a cycling accident whilst training ahead of Sepang, forcing them to adopt fellow Aston Martin Academy graduate Daniel Lloyd, the team though hardly missing a beat in Malaysia with Lloyd helping O’Young to the team’s third Motul pole for the year, and an impressive third placed finish on his debut.
Whilst the pace of the Aston is sure to apply pressure to the fleet of Ferraris, there are no shortage of ‘Maranello machines’ that will figure at the pointy end of the field. Arguably the local BBT team will start event favourites, but keep a close eye on the #1 Clearwater Racing Ferrari of reigning champion Mok Weng Sun with WEC Ferrari factory favourite James Calado alongside, and round five winners Carlo Van Dam and Piti Bhirom Bhakdi.
Bentley will again prove to be a threat with the points leading #8 Continental GT3 of Sawa and Fong likely to be right in the mix, whilst the Absolute Bentley team’s second and third cars are also likely to be quick. M-Sport factory favourite Andy Meyrick will be back alongside Jeffrey Lee in the #7 J-Fly machine, whilst Duncan Tappy will once more handle the ‘Pro’ leg of the #77 JV Global car, although for the first time, without Jacky Yeung.
South Korean amateur driver Andrew Kim will take the reigning GTM class champions seat for China, with Yeung committed elsewhere with family this weekend, leaving his Audi R8 LMS Cup rival to take his place. Based on Kim’s performance in the one-make Audi series, he will be one to keep an eye on this weekend and could surprise some of the other ‘Am’ drivers with his pace.
And if you think that’s recipe enough to keep you glued to your monitors and TV screens, don’t forget the three car FFF Racing Team by ACM McLaren operation.
They’ve had a mixed season to date, but already have a round win on the board for Hiroshi Hamaguchi and Tonio Liuzzi. This weekend though that dynamic duo will be separated, with Liuzzi jumping across to the #5 car alongside the returning Fu Songyang, whilst Hamaguchi will be joined by Portugese McLaren factory driver Alvaro Parente in the #55 car.
The third car will once more be piloted by Australian drivers Nathan Antunes and Rod Salmon, the duo lining up for their third event of the season and looking forward to a strong run in the cooler conditions of Shanghai after the heat-wave they faced at Sepang three weeks ago.
Whilst there is any number of combinations that can emerge victorious this weekend in the outright GT3 division, the battle for GTM class honours is just as hot, although with victory at the double-points scoring event at Sepang, Absolute Racing’s Jerry Wang has extended his advantage to a comfortable 24 points over Gulf Racing JP driver Hisashi Kunie ahead of this weekend.
At Sepang Wang employed the services of Australian GT3 star Warren Luff to assist him in the three-hour battle of endurance, but at Shanghai the Hong Kong Audi driver has elected to go it alone, whilst Kunie once more lines up with Belgian GT ace Dylan Derdaele alongside in an effort to have the Japanese Porsche team claim valuable points from the Absolute Racing Audi ahead of the showdown for the title in Thailand.
The weekend is sure to present just the kind of action that we’ve come to expect from the GT Asia Series regulars this year, however before the weekend has started, the event has been hampered by a delay which has ultimately forced the cancellation of unofficial practice.
“Sadly the Yang Ming Line who transported the cars from Sepang for us, made a decision without consultation that has had a big impact on us already this weekend,” Motorsport Asia CEO David Sonenscher explained.
“Immediately after Sepang the cars were loaded, and Yang Ming Line set off from KL to Shanghai, but decided to stop out of port for a week without advising us they would do so. Fortunately between Motorsport Asia and our freight partners SEL we managed to convince them to follow through on the initial plans and come into dock so we could unload our cars, but as a result, we’ve lost two days and will need to set up on Thursday instead of undertake our traditional day of unofficial testing. Fortunately, common sense – and additional funds – forced them to make the right choice, but it was an issue that should never have happened.”
WHERE TO WATCH..
All the action will be played out online this weekend, with Twitter, Facebook and the new GT Asia Series website – www.gtasiaseries.com – hosting information, images and video from every day. Keep an eye on www.facebook.com/GTAsiaSeries for more details and involve yourself in the conversation through www.twitter.com/GTAsiaSeries
——————————————————–
THE GT ASIA SERIES AND SHANGHAI
The GT Asia Series made it’s ‘return’ to Shanghai in 2014, effectively the first time the series proper had been to the Chinese F1 venue, 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).
Last year all the records were reset and Ferrari emerged as the race winners with Anthony Liu/Davide Rizzo and Mok Weng Sun/Keita Sawa claiming a win apiece, whilst the Liu/Rizzo combination dominated both qualifying sessions, although it was Craft-Bamboo Racing who stole the fastest lap of the weekend to reset the lap record at 1:47.107 for Richard Lyons.
WHO’S COMPETING IN SHANGHAI?
GT3 CLASS
1. Mok Weng Sun/James Calado (Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3)
5. Fu Songyang/Tonio Liuzzi (FFF Racing Team by ACM McLaren 650S GT3)
7. Jeffrey Lee/Andy Meyrick (Bentley Team Absolute Bentley Continental GT3)
8. Adderly Fong/Keita Sawa (Bentley Team Absolute Bentley Continental GT3)
9. Jiang Xin/Max Wiser (Spirit of Race Ferrari 458 Italia GT3)
11. Piti Bhirom Bhakdi/Carlo Van Dam (Singha Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia GT3)
12. Richard Wee/Hiroki Katoh (Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3)
15. Nathan Antunes/Rod Salmon (FFF Racing Team by ACM McLaren 650S GT3)
22. Kimihiro Yashiro/Takahashi Hagino (Gulf Racing JP Porsche 997 GT3-R)
24. Dilantha Malagamuwa/Kota Sasaki (Dilango Racing Lamborghini Gallardo FL2 GT3)
37. Anthony Liu/Davide Rizzo (BBT Ferrari 458 Italia GT3)
55. Hiroshi Hamaguchi/Alvaro Parente (FFF Racing Team by ACM McLaren 650S GT3)
77. Duncan Tappy/Andrew Kim (Bentley Team Absolute Bentley Continental GT3)
86. Zen Low/Fairuz Fauzy (OD Racing Lamborghini Gallardo FL2 GT3)
88. Frank Yu/Richard Lyons (Craft-Bamboo Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3)
98. Philip Ma/Ho-Pin Tung (Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 ultra)
99. Darryl O’Young/Daniel Lloyd (Craft-Bamboo Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3)
GTM CLASS
20. Dylan Derdaele/Hasashi Kunie (Gulf Racing JP Porsche 991 GT3 Cup)
23. Jerry Wang/Warren Luff (Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3)
34. Takuma Aoki/Ken Urata (Dilango Racing Lamborghini Gallardo LP560 GT3)
68. Siu Yuk Lung/Siu Tit Lung (LKM Racing Porsche GT3-R)
69. James Cai/Kenneth Lim (Golden CMT RT Ferrari 458 Challenge)
—————————–
2015 GT Asia Series – Championship points (after round seven of 11)
GT3 Class
1. Adderly Fong/Keita Sawa (96-points), 2. Anthony Liu/Davide Rizzo (93) 3. Darryl O’Young (91), 4. Piti Bhirom Bhakdi (70), 5. Jonathan Venter (63), 6. Mok Weng Sun (61), 7. Carlo Van Dam (60), 8. Jacky Yeung/Duncan Tappy (52), 9. Richard Wee (51), 10. Richard Lyons/Frank Yu (47), 11. Matt Griffin, Jeffrey Lee, Zen Low/Fairuz Fauzy (42), 12. Hiroshi Hamaguchi/Vitantonio Liuzzi (38), 13. James Calado (36), 14. Daniel Lloyd, Jiang Xin/Max Wiser (28), 15. Toni Vilander, Fu Songyang (25), 16. Dilantha Malkagamuwa/Kota Sasaki (19), 17. Andrea Caldarelli (17), 18. Andy Soucek, Jean-Karl Vernay (16), 19. Dominic Ang/Adrian D’Silva (14), 20. Naoki Yokomizo, Andy Meyrick (10)
GTM Class (after round seven of 11)
1. Jerry Wang (100-points), 2. Hisashi Kunie (76), 3. Takuma Aoki/Ken Urata (61), 4. Kimihiro Yashiro (58), 5. Craig Liu (50), 6. Warren Luff (36), 7. Tetsuya Makino, Ryo Fukuda (34), 8. Melvin Moh/Keong Wee Lim, Keiichi Mori (32), 9. Keong Liam Lim/Nigel Farmer (28), 10. K.S. Wang (26), 11. Kenneth Lim/James Cai (25), 12. Dylan Derdaele (20), 13. George Chou/Robert Lee (18), 14. Shogo Mitsuyama (10)
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 Michelin, GRAHAM London, KW Automotive, Motul, Auto Art, Race Room, Panta and SEL.
——————————————————–
Shanghai International Circuit
Jiading, Shanghai, China
Track length: 5.451-kilometres
Corners: 16
Rotation: clockwise
Designer/Circuit first opened: Hermann Tilke, 2004
GT3 Lap record: 1:47.107 – Race (Richard Lyons), 1:47.176 – Qualifying (Anthony Liu)
Support classes: CTCC, WTCC, Polo Cup China, Chinese Cup
Number of times GT Asia Series has competed at Sepang previously: 1 (2014)
GT Asia Series and Shanghai – 2014 (10-12 October)
2014 – Rnd#11 (40-minutes – 22-laps)
1. Anthony Liu/Davide Rizzo (BBT Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3)
2. Jean-Karl Vernay/Gilles Vannelet (Absolute Bentley Continental GT3)
3. Frank Yu/Richard Lyons (Craft-Bamboo Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3)
2014 – Rnd#12 (40-minutes – 19-laps)
1. Matt Griffin/Richard Wee (Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3)
2. Keita Sawa/Mok Weng Sun (Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3)
3. Dasheng Zhang/Chao Li (ART Porsche GT3-R)
——————————————————–
Event#05 2015 GT Asia Series
Shanghai International Circuit, China
Times (CST – CST +8)
Friday, 25 September
08:30 – Practice #1 (45-minutes)
10:45 – Practice #2 (45-minutes)
14:20 – Qualifying #1 (15-minutes)
14:45 – Qualifying #2 (15-minutes)
Saturday, 26 September
12:00 – Race#1 (50-minutes)
Sunday, 27 September
16:45 – Race#2 (60-minutes)