The GT Asia Series is back after a two-month long break from racing with the addition of some of the most exciting names in racing. The Series continues its 2013 season in Malaysia at the Sepang International Circuit this weekend with a total of six professional drivers joining the fight.

German driver, Stefan Muecke, will be left unable to defend his Championship lead as he will be out of contention from an injury sustained during a race in Barcelona last week. The Craft Racing AMR driver will pass on driving duties to the able hands of World Touring Car Championship Series driver, Darryl O’Young.

The Hong Kong native will partner with Muecke’s driver partner, Frank Yu, to help maintain the Team’s fight for the Championship title. O’Young will have some degree of pressure on his shoulders as the pairing of Yu & Muecke has been successful thus far with four podiums from six races. But O’Young has raced for the team before in Fuji, when he partnered with Samson Chan and despite their bad luck, O’Young showed his pace in an Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT3.

Chan in the meantime will partner with New Zealand boy wonder and current Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Series leader, Earl Bamber. After a few years as a driver trainer, the 23 year old has been kept busy getting back on track with his career as a race driver and he has proven that he still has the pace. It will be his first stint in the GT Asia Series in the Ford GT3.

Joining the lineup of professional drivers in the Series is 2008 All-Japan Formula 3 Champion, Carlo Van Dam. The 27 year old has been busy in recent years competing in Japanese Super GT 500, Le Mans Series and will be joining the GT Asia Series for the first time this weekend. The Dutch driver will compete in the Audi R8 LMS Cup car of Tiger Racing Team, partnering Series regular, Jacky Yeung. Hong Kong GTM class driver, Yeung recently purchased the Audi and will be racing it for only his second time.

Continuing their pursuit with Team R8 LMS Ultra are professional drivers Cheng Cong Fu and Malaysia’s own Alex Yoong. The duo have been competing with the team throughout the season and just at the last race, Yoong was back up on the podium with his driver partner, Francis Hideki Onda, finishing second in Fuji. Cheng meanwhile is still chasing the elusive podium for him and his driver partner, Philip Ma. Both drivers and their team are hoping to put on a good show for their new Team sponsor, GRAHAM.

Meanwhile, Dilantha Malagamuwa is back in his own Lamborghini LP560 GT3 for the race weekend. During the last outing, the professional driver from Sri Lanka, partnered with Jacky Yeung in Tiger Racing Team’s Gallardo. Malagamuwa is hoping to be able to show his pace again and is always positive of a good race weekend back with Dilango Racing.

The professional drivers are faced with stiff competition as they head into Rounds 7 & 8 of the GT Asia 2013 season, with other fast drivers including a number of Silver classified drivers, such as the recent Malaysia Merdeka Endurance Race winners, Mok Weng Sun and Hiroshi Hamaguchi. The Team Clearwater Racing duo have shown outstanding pace throughout the season and won their first race in Fuji, Mok now lies third with Hamaguchi in fifth in the points table.

Other notable drivers to look out for are Asia Racing Team’s Li Zhi Cong in the Porsche 997 GT3 R; the only silver pairing in the Team R8 LMS Ultra of Marchy Lee and Jeffrey Lee; Clearwater Racing’s Lamborghini LP560 GT3 driven by Tunku Hammam and Ro Charlz and Thailand based Japanese driver, Akihiro Asai who will once again partner GTM driver, Billy Fung.

The GT Asia Series will mark its return to the 2013 Season with a visit to Sepang International Circuit for Rounds 7 & 8 this 13-15 September weekend. Qualifying is scheduled to be held on Saturday, 14th September at 10.15am with the first race scheduled for 4.45pm later that afternoon. Round 8 is scheduled to be held on Sunday, 15th September at 1.50pm.

The GT Asia Series Rounds 5 – 10, held at Fuji, Sepang and Zhuhai will mark the start of the AAMC Macau GT Cup, where drivers will also collect points for the Macau GT Championship.

The 2013 GT Asia Series is supported by Yokohama ADVAN, Graham Timekeepers, KW Automotive, AutoArt, Tunewear and RaceRoom.

The GT Asia Series is jointly organised by Motorsport Asia and Supercar Club Hong Kong.