After a dramatic opening round at Fuji International Speedway in challenging conditions, the leading points contenders were looking for a return to form and some dry conditions for the second 60-minute race at the popular Japanese circuit, which had attracted an impressive two-day crowd of over 31,000 fans.
Opening race winners Carlo Van Dam and Piti Bhirom Bhakdi were expected to be back in the thick of the action, however with an additional 12-second success parity penalty to carry during the pit stops, they were always likely to have their work cut out for them, but in the end, they were eliminated in a three car collision on lap two, that also claimed round three winners Hiroshi Hamaguchi and Tonio Liuzzi.
With reigning champion Mok Weng Sun also caught up in the incident, that allowed new Spirit of Race recruit Jiang Xin into contention, the Chinese driver handing team-mate Max Wiser third place, a position the Italian held to the chequered flag, although he was unable to do anything about the battle for the lead.
Somewhat predictably, the battle for victory came down to two of the most consistent driver pairings – round two winners Jonathon Venter and Darryl O’Young in the VLT/Craft Bamboo Racing Aston Martin, and round four winners Adderly Fong and Keita Sawa in the Absolute Racing Bentley Continental. Venter led early, with Fong taking the advantage into the compulsory pit stop, and whilst O’Young led the closing stanza of the race early, Sawa ultimately worked his way through for Bentley’s second win of the year.
The battle for GTM class honours in the end didn’t see quite as much action as the outright class, with former Japanese F1 test driver Ryo Fukuda taking a popular victory in the Taiwan Top Speed Racing Ferrari alongside Taiwan’s Craig Liu.
Race#2 (Round 6)
With much of the action from the opening race at Fuji coming on the run into turn one off the start, teams held their collective breaths as the field powered into the slow right hand opening turn at the end of the main straight for the first time. Whilst the bulk of the field made it through, the fancied #88 Interush Aston of Frank Yu was turned around mid-pack, beginning a sequence of events that would eliminate the former race winners from challenging the leaders.
As was the case in South Korea, young Australian Jonathan Venter powered away from the start in the second Craft-Bamboo entry, to take a strong early lead with round four winner Adderly Fong tucked in behind.
Behind them, the action continued on lap two, with Saturday race winner Piti looking for a way past FFF Racing Team by ACM’s Hiroshi Hamaguchi, the Japanese driver looking for another Fuji victory, although that opportunity, and the chance for Piti to back up the TP12 Racing Team’s opening race win evaporated into turn one after the Thai driver clipped the McLaren under brakes, spinning him into the path of reigning champion Mok.
That saw all three cars forced off the circuit with Hamaguchi beached in the gravel, whilst Piti was forced to slowly return the car to pit lane with terminal damage to the front right of the far, Hamaguchi following suit shortly after.
The messy start too had allowed Jiang Xin from the third row of the grid, to move up into third in the Spirit of Race Ferrari and into pursuit of the leaders, whilst behind him, Mok put in an outstanding drive to work his way back through the field to be fifth into the pits behind team-mate Richie Wee.
Whilst the leaders started to pull away, the battle for sixth place saw some spirited driving between Jeffrey Lee, Zen Low, Taiyou Iida and round five star Jacky Yeung, the four cars trading places regularly, with Lee especially aggressive, the Fuji winner from 12-months ago defending and attacking hard, which allowed the lead pack to pull away.
Up front the fast-starting Venter came under attack from Fong who like his rival, was keen to make up for a lacklustre result on Saturday and build on his championship points. He caught Venter and tried to monster the yellow VLT-sponsored Aston into a mistake, but Venter wasn’t easily rattled.
Ultimately though Fong grabbed the lead ahead of the CPS, but it was O’Young who left the pits first, with the Absolute team electing to send the Japanese Bentley star out on fresh Michelin rubber.
O’Young knew his advantage would be under threat once Sawa’s tyres had reached their optimum temperature, so he charged hard out of the pits top open up a six second lead, before Sawa ultimately pulled him in within a handful of laps.
The two then began a fantastic battle with a number of position changes across the following laps, the former team-mates clearly enjoying the experience, before the #8 Bentley made one last move stick on the run onto the main straight to open up a comfortable lead, crossing the line more than 11-seconds up on O’Young.
Behind them a trio of hard charging Ferraris started to put O’Young’s podium position under threat, the beaming Max Wiser crossing the line just a couple of car lengths back from the Aston Martin, and more than five seconds up on Ferrari factory favourites Matt Griffin and Toni Vilander, the Italian driver countering any advantage the Clearwater drivers could make with his best drive to date in GT Asia.
Sixth was local hero Kota Sasaki in Dilantha Malaganuwa’s Lamborghini, the Super GT driver using his intimate knowledge of the Fuji circuit to great effect to hold out the charging Bentley’s of Andy Soucek and Duncan Tappy.
Multiple Australian GT race-winner Nathan Antunes was next across the line in the FFF Racing Team by ACM McLaren, however the Australian and team-mate Rod Salmon were both forced to accept 60-seconds worth of post-race penalties for Salmon’s contact early in the race with team-boss Sean Fu, and Antunes’ contact with the similar McLaren of Akira Iida late in the race.
Neither contact was intentional, with Salmon misinterpreting a team-order to pass Fu in the Nissan, whilst the fast-finishing Antunes just clipped the tail of Iida in a battle for eighth after powering his way through the field in the closing laps, damaging his 650S GT3 in the process, although not enough to force retirement.
That allowed the Zen Low/Fairuz Fauzy OD Racing combination to take ninth place after what had been a mixed weekend for the Malaysian team, although Low’s pace was impressive throughout the weekend, giving the team another strong step forward ahead of their home race in September, whilst Sean Fu and Andre Couto claimed their second top ten of the weekend in the FFF Racing Nissan GT-R, Fu recovering strongly after contact from Salmon early in the race.
In the battle for GTM class honours, Craig Liu and Ryo Fukuda took a strong win after an impressive opening stint by Liu, whilst for the Taiwan Top Speed Racing Team, it was a double celebration in their return to GT Asia, with James Cai and Kenneth Lim claiming second in Cai’s third ever race as a competitor.
Third across the line was the local Gulf Racing JP team, with Kimihiro Yashiro, and Hisashi Kunie claiming more valuable championship points, whilst round five winners Takuma Aoki and Ken Urata were forced to settle for fifth after a tough second race in the Dilango Racing Gallardo, the pair battling a chassis issue..
For race one podium finisher Jerry Wang, his second race was thwarted by contact with Frank Yu early in the race, ultimately forcing his retirement, although the GT Asia Series rookie continues to lead the GTM class standings at the mid-point of the season.
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What the driver’s said;
Adderly Fong – 1st [GT3] Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3
“The main focus was to build up a gap off the start and get past Jonathan so that I could give Sawa-san the best advantage for his stint and go after our second win. I have only been here once, so to come away with the win is fantastic. A big part of this result goes to Absolute Racing who did a brilliant job last night to essentially replace all the parts on the left side of the car – they gave us a great car today.”
Keita Sawa – 1st [GT3] Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3
“I need to first of all thank the team for fixing the car from yesterday, it was 100% today. Adderly made a great start, and he already knew that we would change all four tyres in the stop and that I’d have to rejoin on cold rubber, so he made sure he had the lead by the time we had our pit stop. I might have been able to take the lead out of the pits, but I also knew he had the warmer tyres, so I let him go and just tried to manage my pace till they were up to speed, then I caught him again.
“Darryl and I are former team-mates, and we’ve raced together a lot, so I knew he’d race me hard, but give me the room to get through when it counted. After that I just tried to manage the car. I’m very happy for all the team, this is my home-town, so to take the win here is very special, and a completey different experience from yesterday.
“It’s hard to explain what I was feeling after yesterday’s race, because it was 100% my fault, and I need to apologise to everyone, especially car #9, because I destroyed their race.”
Jonathan Venter – 2nd [GT3] Craft-Bamboo Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3
“Definitely again it was a very hard race, GT Asia has certainly put on some fantastic racing this year. At Fuji we knew especially that the Ferraris and Bentleys would be strong, so we knew it would be a hard race. I saw Adderly behind me, but knew we were pulling away, and I tried to keep him there, but he was just a little bit too quick. Darryl and I just try to be very consistent, and every race we focus not on outright pace but overall consistency through the race, and I think that’s worked for us so far, but it’s tough with all the pro drivers and factory supported teams, so we just have to stay on top of our game.”
Darryl O’Young – 2nd [GT3] Craft-Bamboo Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3
“It was impossible to hold the Bentley on the straight. Keita and I gave each other room, but I knew it was unlikely we’d hold him, especially as we decided not to change to fresh tyres during our stop and we pulled a six second gap, but in the end we couldn’t hold them. We had a good gain this weekend and are tied for the points lead, so now it’s just a matter of taking it weekend to weekend.”
Jiang Xin – 3rd [GT3] Spirit of Race Ferrari 458 Italia GT3
“I felt very comfortable in the Ferrari, and despite very little running in the dry, I was able to get into third place and run away from the pack behind to hand Max a good opportunity after our pit stop.”
Max Wiser – 3rd [GT3] Spirit of Race Ferrari 458 Italia GT3
“First I have to thank Anthony [Liu] for giving us the use of this fantastic car, and to the Spirit of Race team for working with us this weekend. The weather didn’t really work for us, because we didn’t get too many dry laps early, but after qualifying we were quite confident because Jiang Xin showed in the Bronze driver’s session that he was really consistent and quick. Everybody knows what happened in race one, so I don’t want to focus any more on that.
“Today though was different, although I lost some time early with a slower car in front when I came out of the pits, so my engineer told me to push hard because I had Toni [Vilander] and Matt [Griffin] coming hard behind me, but the car was just so good, and I felt more comfortable with every lap, and my lap times were quite quick so we held on to third to finish on the podium again.”
Craig Liu – 1st [GTM] Taiwan Top Speed Racing Ferrari 458 Challenge
“We’re very happy with the result. I’m still progressing as a driver, but very, very satisfied. We do a lot of work on data, and try to continue to improve each time. Our realistic expectation each race is to improve each lap and preserve the car.”
Ryu Fukuda – 1st [GTM] Taiwan Top Speed Racing Ferrari 458 Challenge
“I was a little worried about the start, because we were coming from P2, and I wanted to help Craig through because the car was good and everything was good in the dry, we just had to make it through to the pit stop, then I was confident we could get through to the end.”
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With the Fuji round now completed, focus turns to the fourth event of the year, and the GT Asia Series’ first ‘mini’ enduro, with a single, double-points scoring three-hour race at Malaysia’s Sepang Circuit on September 4-5.
All event details will be updated regularly on the GT Asia Series Facebook page; www.facebook.com/GTAsiaSeries
Both races from Fuji will be broadcast around the world, please check www.facebook.com/GTAsiaSeries for details of viewing times, and also replays of previous events and features through www.youtube.com/AFOSTV
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Rnd#5/6 – 2015 GT Asia Series
Fuji International Speedway, Japan (19 July)
Race #2 (60-minutes)
1. 8. Adderly Fong/Keita Sawa (Absolute Bentley Continental GT3) – 35-laps
2. 99. Jonathan Venter/Darryl O’Young (Craft-Bamboo Racing Aston) +11.194
3. 9. Jiang Xin/Max Wiser (Spirit of Race Ferrari 458 GT3) +14.557
4. 12. Richard Wee/Matt Griffin (Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458) +19.996
5. 1. Mok Weng Sun/Toni Vilander (Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458) +34.418
6. 24. Malagamuwa/Kota Sasaki (Dilango Racing Gallardo FL2) +1:02.634
7.
7. Jeffrey Lee/Andy Soucek (Absolute Bentley Continental GT3) +1:03.983
8. 77. Jacky Yeung/Duncan Tappy (Absolute Bentley Continental GT3)
+1:23.545
9. 86. Zen Low/Fairuz Fauzy (OD Racing Lamborghini Gallardo GT3) – 34-laps
10. 5. Fu Song Yang/Andre Couto (FFF Racing Nissan GT-R)
11. 98. Philip Ma/Ho-Pin Tung (Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra)
12. 15. Rod Salmon/Nathan Antunes (FFF Racing McLaren 650S GT3)
13. 70. Craig Liu/Ryo Fukuda (Taiwan Top Speed Ferrari 458 Challenge)* – 33-laps
14. 69. Kenneth Lim/James Cai (Taiwan Top Speed Ferrari 458 Challenge)*
15. 32. Taiyou Iida/Akira Iida (Bingo Racing McLaren MP4-12C GT3)
16. 20. Hisashi Kunie/Kimihiro Yashiro (Gulf JP Porsche GT3 Cup)*
17. 88. Frank Yu/Richard Lyons (Craft-Bamboo Racing Aston Martin GT3)
18. 22. Yutaka Yamamoto/Keiichi Mori (Gulf JP Porsche GT3-R)
19. 95. K.S. Wang/Mitsuyama (Taiwan Top Speed Ferrari Challenge)*
20. 34. Takuma Aoki/Ken Urata (Dilango Racing Gallrdo LP560)* – 32-laps
DNF. 78. Jeff Lu/George Chou (Taiwan Top Speed Ferrari Challenge)* – 4-laps
DNF. 23. Jerry Wang (Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3)* – 3-laps
DNF. 11. Piti Bhirom Bhakdi/Carlo Van Dam (TP12/Singha Ferrari) – 2-laps
DNF. 55. Hiroshi Hamaguchi/Tonio Liuzzi (FFF Racing McLaren 650S GT3) – 1-lap
*GTM Class
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.
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GT3 Class (after round six of 11)
1. Adderly Fong/Keita Sawa (63-points), 1. Darryl O’Young/Jonathan Venter (63), 2. Anthony Liu/Davide Rizzo (57), 3. Piti Bhirom Bhakdi (52), 4. Richard Wee (51), 5. Carlo Van Dam (42), 5. Matt Griffin (42), 6. Mok Weng Sun (41), 7. Richard Lyons/Frank Yu (39), 8. Hiroshi Hamaguchi/Vitantonio Liuzzi (38), 9. Jacky Yeung/Duncan Tappy (36), 10. Jeffrey Lee (32), 11. Zen Low/Fairuz Fauzy (30), 12. Jiang Xin/Max Wiser (28), 13. Toni Vilander (25), 13. Sean Fu (25), 14. Dilantha Malkagamuwa/Kota Sasaki (19), 15. Andrea Caldarelli (17), 16. James Calado (16), 16. Andy Soucek (16), 16. Jean-Karl Vernay (16), 17. Naoki Yokomizo (10), 18. Craig Baird (9), 19. Hisashi Kunie (8), 19. Andre Couto (8), 20. Rod Salmon/Nathan Antunes (7), 21. Keiichi Mori (4), 21. Dylan Derdaele (4)
GTM Class (after round six of 11)
1. Jerry Wang (64-points), 2. Takuma Aoki/Ken Urata (61), 3. Kimihiro Yashiro (58), 4. Hisashi Kunie (56), 5. Tetsuya Makino (34), 5. Craig Liu/Ryo Fukuda (34), 6. Keiichi Mori (32), 7. Kenneth Lim/James Cai (25), 8. Shogo Mitsuyama/K.S. Wang (10), 9. George Chou/Jeff Lu (0)