Interesting second outing of the year in the GT Asia Series for Joel Camathias: again with NB Team and Songyang Fu as team mate, but this time at the wheel of a Mercedes AMG SLS GT3 that both the team and the drivers discovered, the Swiss has finished in P15 (out of 34 entrants) in today’s Race 2 at the Fuji Speedway. The Japanese track, which hosted the third round of the series, has been marginally touched by the typhoon that has hit the country, and races could take place normally. Yesterday, in Race-1, the Sino-Swiss pair was forced to retirement by a contact during the first part of the one-hour race.

Joel Camathias:

“Despite not clinching spectacular results, it was a positive weekend. The team could avoid missing the round by renting a Mercedes SLS to replace the damaged Aston and my team mate could bring home some useful championship points. We didn’t know the Mercedes and, as expected, we struggled a bit in practice and qualifying to find the right balance. I found it a very nice car and was mostly impressed with the torque and braking. In Race 1, on dry track, I took the start and was climbing up through the field when in an overtaking attempt, I braked very late and my rival closed the door. Inevitably, there was a slight contact but unfortunately, I  was also hit by the guy behind me, and that was it. Today, in Race-2, we had very heavy rain and poor visibility, really difficult conditions. Despite a spin of my team mate during first stint, we could gain positions progressively and finish in the points. Now starts the trip back to Europe and next weekend I will be on track again in the GT Open, at Silverstone, with good weather, I hope!”