After a ‘gap-year’ from his motorsport activities to begin study in Australia, Hong Kong’s Matt Solomon endured two intense race weekend’s back-to-back in August, campaigning AMG race cars in both the northern and southern hemispheres, in the process reinforcing why he is regarded as one of Asia’s most impressive new talents.

Returning to the AMG fold for the Shanghai round of the GT Asia Series, Solomon rejoined the marque for whom the then 17-year old claimed victory at Zhuhai in China alongside two-time Formula One world champion Mika Hakkinen.

Paired with another rising young star, this time Germany’s Nico Bastian in the new-for-2016 Mercedes-AMG GT3, the duo proved to be more than a match for their highly rated team-mate Maro Engel, and the established stars of GT Asia, but sadly a technical challenge and a pit-stop problem kept the two young charges from the podium, but not before Solomon had shown race winning pace.

Just a week later Solomon received a last minute call to join Australian GT regular Mark Griffith in Sydney for a three-hour endurance event in an Erebus Motorsport SLS AMG GT3 – the very car that had taken him to that Zhuhai victory three years prior – an opportunity that was too good to pass up, Solomon again showing impressive pace to bring the car inside the top five ahead of the first round of pit stops.

For the former open-wheel star, his year has proven challenging, but the outright Australian GT round winner earlier this year having taken the new Mercedes-AMG GT3 to their second ever official victory, just a day after claiming the marques first official podium finish at the Australian Grand Prix, is keeping fit and juggling his studies with plans for a return to the circuit full-time in 2017.

“There’s a lot of things under discussion at present because I’m a racer, and I want to keep racing, but studying economics is also keeping me busy. There are a few exciting things planned, and I’m looking to spend a lot of next year behind the wheel, and the two races with Mercedes-AMG in the last couple of weeks have really served to remind me just how much I love it..!”

Rnd#9/10, 2016 GT Asia Series
Shanghai International Circuit, China (19-21 August, 2016)
After a three year sabbatical since Solomon and Hakkinen claimed their emphatic victory at Zhuhai in October 2013, AMG were back for the Shanghai round of the GT Asia Series and as they did in 2013, they arrived with a single goal in mind, victory.

With two cars – one for Solomon and Nico Bastian, the other for new car owner Zhang Wenhe and the ‘King of Macau’ Maro Engel – the AAI Motorsport supported Customer Racing outfit were looking for the win.

This would be the first time the new Mercedes-AMG GT3 had competed in the GT Asia Series, and the thunderous naturally-aspirated 6.3-litre V8 powered machine was quickly on the pace, running inside the top five through practice, before qualifying delivered Engel P4 and Bastian P5 in opening qualifying, Solomon matching his team-mate with P5 in session two despite campaigning used tyres.

Bastian started the opening race and was quickly onto the tail of Engel as the cars made their way down pit lane for their compulsory pit stop, and despite an additional nine-second parity penalty for the team over many of their rivals, Solomon emerged from the pits to set what at that stage were the fastest laps of the race to catch championship contender Anthony Liu in a Ferrari 488.

Sadly though, almost as soon as he tucked in under the rear wing of the Ferrari, a technical issue emerged with the car and the gearbox started selecting different gears after a gear potentiometer failed. Ultimately that forced Solomon to drop his pace, and heading into the final lap, retire the car, the team forced to replace the part overnight to be ready for the second race.

“I’m pretty devastated actually,” Solomon admitted post-race. “I had the speed early to catch and I think overtake Liu who went on to win the race, we would have been a podium finisher at worst, no problem at all, but when a technical issue like this occurs, there’s not much you can do but try and nurse the car around for the finish.”

Starting Sunday’s second 60-minute race, Solomon was again immediately in the thick of the action, but carrying the challenge of driving on older rubber he was forced to spend much of his stint defending from New Zealand’s Jono Lester in the Porsche. Ultimately he hit the pits for his compulsory pit stop from fifth, but as soon as he hit pit lane another challenge emerged.

“It was my error, I missed the pit lane timing button that starts the counter for the pit stop time we’ve been allocated,” Matt explained. “Unfortunately the back up system we had in place also had an issue, so we weren’t 100% sure how long we’d been in the pits, and by the time Nico left pit lane, we’d lost an extra 23-seconds. To add to our frustration, we finished 23 seconds behind the winner, but that was eighth place, so we were left to lament what might have been..” 


Rnd#2 2016 CAMS Australian Endurance Championship
Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW (26-28 August)
Just days after campaigning the new AMG GT3, Solomon was back ‘home’ in Sydney to continue his studies, but no sooner had he landed, than he was on his way to Sydney Motorsport Park to return to Australian GT, this time joining two-time Australian GT GT4 champion Mark Griffith in the very car in which he’d won his race in Zhuhai alongside Mika Hakkinen.

Running under the Erebus Motorsport banner once again – the team that took Hakkinen and Solomon to the win in China – Solomon was able to push with confidence the car with which he had such a great relationship, and quickly showed he would be a factor in the race, qualifying the #19 Hog’s Breath Café SLS in tenth position, just half a second shy of the points leading McLaren.

Starting the 101-lap journey from position 18 (starting position was set by combining qualifying times from both drivers), Solomon charged off the line to be 14th by lap five and fast approaching the tail of the top ten before a slight off on the run into Corporate Hill saw the big black SLS sideways into the run-off area.

“I was just pushing as hard as I could, and just ran slightly off the white line on turn in to the corner and caught the grass,” Solomon explained afterwards. “I lost seven seconds in the process, but in the overall scheme of things, that didn’t lose us any positions.”

Griffith jumped behind the wheel mid-race before handing Solomon back the car with 30 laps remaining, the 20-year old charging across the final laps of the race to move back to 15th at the chequered flag, in the process setting the fastest lap of the race for the team, five laps from home.

“It was a great race, but sadly the SLS is up against it competing with all the latest FIA GT3 equipment, as Craig Baird and Dominic Storey showed with the pace of the new AMG-GT3, but personally I was happy to be quicker than both John Bowe in the new Ferrari 488 and reigning Bathurst champion Steve Richards in the new BMW M6 GT3, so on a personal note, that was encouraging.”

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Rnd#9/10, 2016 GT Asia Series
Shanghai International Circuit, China (20 August, 2016)
Qualifying #1 (15-minutes)
1. 6. Alex Yoong (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) – 2:05.906
2. 13. Franky Cheng (Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3) – 2:05.931
3. 9. Duncan Tappy (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) – 2:05.938
4. 68. Maro Engel (Mercedes-AMG GT3) – 2:06.033
5. 66. Nico Bastian (Mercedes-AMG GT3) – 2:06.136

Qualifying #2 (15-minutes)
1. 15. Jeroen Mul (FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3) – 2:06.297
2. 55. Andrea Amici (FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3) – 2:06.584
3. 37. Anthony Liu (BBT Ferrari 488 GT3) – 2:06.736
4. 8. Keita Sawa (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) – 2:06.803
5. 66. Matt Solomon (Mercedes-AMG GT3) – 2:07.174

Race#1 (60-minutes)
1. 37. Rizzo/Liu (BBT Ferrari 488 GT3) – 28-laps
2. 9. Tappy/Inthraphuvasak (Absolute Bentley Continental GT3) +0.052
3. 6. Yoong/Au (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) +0.221
4. 5. Thong/Lee (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) +7.503
5. 55. Liberati/Amici (FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3) +30.971
14. 66. Bastian/Solomon (Mercedes-AMG GT3) – 27-laps

Shanghai International Circuit, China (21 August, 2016)
Race#2 (60-minutes)
1. 8. Venter/Sawa (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) – 28-laps
2. 55. Liberati/Amici (FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3) +11.515
3. 9. Tappy/Inthraphuvasak (Absolute Bentley Continental GT3) +13.386
4. 7. Fong/Kim (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) +14.425
5. 5. Thong/Lee (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) +17.096
9. 66. Solomon/Bastian (Mercedes-AMG GT3) +23.647

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Rnd#2 2016 CAMS Australian Endurance Championship
Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW (26-28 August)
Qualifying#1 (20-minutes) – 26 August
1. 911. John Martin (Porsche GT3 R) – 1:27.0834
2. 63. Dominic Story (Mercedes-AMG GT3) – 1:27.2202
3. 5. Nathan Antunes (Audi R8 LMS GT3) – 1:27.2720
4. 4. Marcus Marshall (Audi R8 LMS GT3) – 1:27.2760
5. 95. George Miedecke (Aston Martin Vantage GT3) – 1:27.4078
19. 19. Mark Griffith (Erebus Motorsport Mercedes Benz AMG SLS GT3) – 1:31.6790

Qualifying#2 (20-minutes) – 26 August
1. 23. David Russell (Lamborghini Gallardo R-EX GT3) – 1:27.2795
2. 11. Warren Luff (McLaren 650S GT3) – 1:27.6058
3. 100. Steven Richards (BMW Team SRM BMW M6 GT3) – 1:27.7819
4. 8. Cameron McConville (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) – 1:27.9387
5. 911. Duvashen Padayachee (Porsche GT3 R) – 1:28.1186
10. 19. Matt Solomon (Erebus Motorsport Mercedes Benz AMG SLS GT3) – 1:28.6374

Race (101-laps) – 27 August
1. 95. George Miedecke/Andrew Miedecke (Aston Martin Vantage GT3)
2. 911. John Martin/Duvashen Padayachee (Porsche GT3 R)
3. 5. Nathan Antunes/Greg Taylor (Audi R8 LMS GT3)
4. 59. Nathan Morcom/Grant Denyer (McLaren 650S GT3)
5. 11. Tony Walls/Warren Luff (McLaren 650S GT3)
15. 19. Solomon/Griffith (Erebus Motorsport Mercedes Benz AMG SLS GT3) – 99-laps