After an epic tenth round at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia, the GT Asia Series will go all the way down to the wire at Macau in November, with just eight points separating the top three teams heading to Shanghai next month.
Saturday’s ninth round saw a return to victory lane for two-time champion Mok Weng Sun and Keita Sawa – their fourth win of the year – which moved them to within three points of Clearwater Racing team-mates Rob Bell and Hiroshi Hamaguchi. They further reduced the margin during round ten despite having to come from the rear of the field after a spin by Mok on the opening lap.
Up front though, it was all Craft-Bamboo Racing, with Frank Yu and Stefan Mucke making a risky but brilliant tyre choice to start Yu on slicks in the damp conditions, allowing him to work his way through the field to hand Mucke a big lead during the compulsory pit stop [CPS], a lead the German would extend to 20-seconds by the flag.
Unfortunately though the Craft-Bamboo team were penalised 30-seconds post-race for an infringement on the grid (they were judged not to have had all four wheels fitted by the 5-minute board – the team’s second car suffering a similar fate), dropping them back to fourth. That handed the win to the #37 BBT Ferrari team of Davide Rizzo and Anthony Liu, although they too were penalised post-race by officials for having four crew work on the car during their CPS (maximum of two are allowed), dropping them back to fifth.
That ultimately handed the win to series debutante Alessandro Guidi and car-owner Richard Wee in the #12 Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458, a result which could be attributed to Wee’s brilliant drive in the opening stanza of the race after they too decided to run slick tyres.
Rain had fallen quite heavily immediately ahead of round ten, stopping just half an hour ahead of the scheduled start. That created bedlam in pit lane as teams were forced to predict what the weather would deliver during the coming 60-minute race.
Pole-sitter Anthony Liu (his second of the year) elected for wets after race officials gave teams a sighting lap to determine what tyre to use. That made the decision for NB Team’s Max Wiser who elected to match Liu, whilst young Akash Nandy in the Dilango Racing Lamborghini made a similar decision.
Off the line it was Nandy who made the most of his first start in the GT Asia Series to dive down the inside of Liu into turn one, but the BBT Ferrari driver was having none of it, closing the door as behind him Nandy and Wiser bumped doors on the run into turn two.
Whilst the drivers on wets managed to open up a strong early lead, those teams that chose slicks were struggling in the slippery conditions, the opening lap claiming Phillip Ma and the high profile scalp of Mok Weng Sun as a result, the round nine winner spinning on the exit of turn 14 despite being on wets, the Clearwater Ferrari going backwards into the infield barrier, although fortunately without significant damage.
That gave Hiroshi Hamaguchi all the momentum he needed, and the points leader started to push in the McLaren to catch the leaders ahead of the CPS.
Up front though Anthony Liu was on a mission, driving the wheels off the BBT Ferrari as he worked to open as big a gap as possible before the teams on slick tyres started to turn the advantage their way.
In the end though he could do little about Frank Yu, the Craft-Bamboo team boss taking the lead just minutes out from the CPS window opening, Wiser – who had conserved his wets better in the NB Team Aston – following suit shortly after.
Behind the leading trio Richard Wee was doing a brilliant job to work his way through the field, ultimately passing Wiser for second before his stop to hand over to Guidi.
Guidi rejoined third, immediately ahead of Rizzo who fired past him on the run to turn four. They then set off in pursuit of Guerrero who held station for a number of laps before finally succumbing to the Ferrari assault with 15-minutes remaining, the two Italians taking the NB Team Aston at turn 15 as Guerrero came up to lap the GTM class Porsche of Marcel Tjia.
Behind the leading quartet, Fuji sensation Christopher Mies was charging after a great opening stint by car owner Jeffrey Lee, the Absolute Racing Audi R8 driver across the line fifth, but ultimately claiming fourth in the post-race reshuffle.
Mucke crossed the line 20-seconds clear of Rizzo, with Guidi classified third, but ultimately elevated to victor with a delighted Richard Wee, whilst the ever improving NB Team claimed their second podium of the event, and their third straight podium at Sepang. Mucke and Yu were ultimately relegated to third, ahead of Mies/Lee and Rizzo/Liu.
Keita Sawa drove the wheels off the Clearwater Racing Ferrari to get the best of a closing stint battle with title rival and team-mate Rob Bell to claim one more valuable championship point on the McLaren team, the two chrome Clearwater cars crossing the line sixth and seventh.
Naoki Yokomizo was one of the stars of the round in Samson Chan’s 2011 Ford GT, the Japanese SuperGT regular crossing the line eighth after pushing many of the 2014-spec cars to the limit in both races.
Ninth was Bjorn Wirdheim in the MIKE Racing Mercedes Benz SLS AMG GT3, and in great news for the team, car-owner Michael Chua made impressive gains across the weekend to be battling some of the series regulars during his stints behind the wheel.
Tenth in the difficult conditions was Nasrat Muzayyin who like Chua continues to improve, aided by the impressive talents of AF Corse favourite Rui Aguas. Eleventh were series debutantes Michael Choi and Mitchell Gilbert in the FUN88 Lamborghini Gallardo FL2 ahead of Jonathon Venter and Daniel Bilski in the second Craft-Bamboo Aston who like the #97 car, also incurred a 30-secobd time penalty post-race.
In GTM, victory went to reigning champion Wayne Shen. It was an impressive drive by the Porsche regular who was forced to start from pit lane after a DNF on Saturday when a throttle cable had broken. The team were keen to ensure everything was okay, bringing Shen back into the pits before the start of the race, but a mix of outstanding driving and some good team strategy, bought the Canadian back into the equation in the closing stages.
Early in the race the battle for GTM honours was being waged by Takuma Aoki and George Chou, the title rivals inheriting the lead after points leader Jacky Yeung struck problems immediately after the CPS, Marchy Lee forced to retire the Tiger Racing Audi.
At the flag though it was all Shen, the #16 Porsche an impressive 13th, immediately ahead of Ken Urata in Aoki’s Dilango Racing Lamborghini, and new points leader Thomas Fjordbach in the #88 Taiwan Top Speed Racing Ferrari 458 Challenge.
There are just three races remaining in the 2014 GT Asia Series, two of them coming at Shanghai International Raceway on October 9-11 with the final round scheduled for the annual Macau Grand Prix in November (14-16).
Quotes from the winners of GT Asia Series Rnd#10
1st – Richard Wee, #12 Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3
“I’m very surprised to be here. I think we’re here all because of one decision – to go on slicks. The first few laps were tough, my job was to just keep the car on the track. After the track dried it was quite easy, and very enjoyable. Yesterday we didn’t have such a good race, but today is beyond my expectations.”
1st – Alessandro Guidi, #12 Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3
“The weekend was a real rollercoaster. We had pole position yesterday, but were a bit unlucky. Today Richard made a really good decision at the beginning, and I don’t know how many other drivers made the decision, but because of that decision, we are here.
“I tried to overtake the other Ferrari, but he was fast, and it was too risky, but I also knew he had a penalty, so I just held my ground and we were rewarded with a great surprise.”
2nd – Max Wiser, #9 NB Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3
“I started with rain tyres because I did the out lap with slicks and it was slippery and I also noticed that Anthony [Liu] had chosen wets and usually you have to follow what the pole man is doing.
“The first five or six laps were good, I pushed a lot to follow Anthony, but then I saw Frank and Richard coming at me, so I tried to push a little bit more and I managed to overtake Anthony and finish my stint in P3.”
2nd – Lucas Guerrero, #9 NB Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3
“Max handed me the car in second position, and the team fit new slick tyres. I then tried to push hard, but there were places on the track that were still a little slippery, but I pushed. Davide started to catch me, and on the last lap I got caught up behind one of the Porsches and both Davide and Alessandro caught me and managed to get past me.”
3rd – Frank Yu, #79 Craft-Bamboo Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3
“When we went out to the grid the team asked me to check the track condition to see if we stay on slicks, or stay with the wets. We had nothing to lose, so we made the right call and put on the slicks. Everything worked well for us because we had two laps of rolling start, so the tyres got a bit warmer, but the first two or three laps were a bit hairy and a number of cars got past me, but I knew the tyres would come back to me once they got hot, so I pushed as hard as I could and started to catch them back up, one by one.
“With three laps to go I managed to overtake the leader and held my position before handing over to Stefan..”
3rd – Stefan Mucke, #79 Craft-Bamboo Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3
“Frank did all the work this time – he did an absolutely amazing job in difficult conditions. We made the right call to go on to slicks, but to be able to stay on track for the first couple of laps, that was the tricky part, but he did a great job and handed me the car in P1.
“I still pushed hard to extend the gap because we knew we were under investigation and in the end the gap was close to 20-seconds and the car was running very well so everything was fine and the team did a great job.”
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Keep up to date with the GT Asia Series via www.afos.com and through social media; www.facebook.com/GTAsiaSeries
Both 1-Hour races from Sepang will be broadcast across the weekend, details are available on the website, Facebook and Twitter.
GT Asia Series (Sunday, 14 September, 2014)
Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia
Race#2 (60-minutes)
1. 12. Alessandro Guidi/Richard Wee (Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) – 26-laps
2. 9. Max Wiser/Lucas Guerrero (NB Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3) +7.328
3.. 97. Stefan Mucke/Frank Yu (Craft-Bamboo Racing Aston Martin Vantage) +10.626
4. 7. Christopher Mies/Jeffrey Lee (Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra GT3) +22.151
5. 37. Davide Rizzo/Anthony Liu (BBT Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) +28.863
6. 3. Keita Sawa/Mok Weng Sun (Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) +32.617
7. 32. Rob Bell/Hiroshi Hamaguchi (Clearwater Racing McLaren MP4-12C) +39.557
8. 56. Samson Chan/Naoki Yokomizo (Ford GT GT3) +50.820
9. 96. Bjorn Wirdheim/Michael Chua (Mike Racing Mercedes SLS AMG GT3) +51.785
10. 38. Rui Aguas/Nasrat Muzayyin (Spirit of Race Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) +52.406
11. 89. Mitchell Gilbert/Michael Choi (FUN88 Gallardo FL2 GT3) +1:07.423
12. 99. Jonathan Venter/Daniel Bilski (Craft-Bamboo Racing Aston Martin) +1:20.137
13. 16. Wayne Shen (ModenaMotorsports.com Porsche 997 GT3 Cup)* – 25-laps
14. 34. Takuma Aoki/Ken Urata (Dilango Racing Lamborghini Gallardo FL2 GT3)*
15. 88. George Chou/Thomas Fjordbach (Taiwan Top Speed 458 Challenge)*
16. 24. Dilantha Malagamuwa/Akash Nandy (Dilango Gallardo FL2 GT3) +1:21.114
17. 15. Earl Bamber/Tit Lung Siu (LKM Racing Porsche GT3-R)
18. 55. Yuk Lung Siu (LKM Racing Lamborghini Gallardo FL2 GT3)
19. 68. John Shen (ModenaMotorsports.com Porsche 997 GT3 Cup)*
20. 95. Ryo Fukuda/Sasha Chu (Taiwan Top Speed Racing Ferrari)* – 24-laps
21. 22. Hideaki Nakao/K.S.Wang (Taiwan Top Speed Racing Audi R8 LMS Cup)*
22. 60. Marcel Tija (Open Road Porsche 997 GT3 Cup)*
23. 80. Dominic Ang/Anthony Chan (Team Lotus Evora GTC)* – 23-laps
24. 79. Graeme Dowsett/Jon Curran (Team NZ Porsche 997 GT3 Cup)* – 22-laps
DNF. 77. Jacky Yeung/Marchy Lee (Tiger Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3)* – 14-laps
DNF. 13. Tetsuya Tanaka/Motoyoshi Yoshida (B-Max Racing Nissan GT-R GT3) – 13-laps
DNF. 98. Alex Yoong/Phillip Ma (Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra GT3) – 5-laps
DNF. 25. Christian Chia (IMS Audi R8 LMS Cup)* – 2-laps
DNF. 18. Shigekazu Wakisaka/Craig Liu (Taiwan Top Speed 458 Challenge)* – 0-laps
*GTM class
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2014 GT Asia Series – Championship points
(after round 10 of 13)
Overall
1. Rob Bell/Hiroshi Hamaguchi (127-points), 3. Mok Weng Sun/Keita Sawa (125), 5. Davide Rizzo/Anthony Liu (119), 7. Frank Yu (108), 8. Max Wiser (96), 9. Kane Jiang (66), 9. Jeffrey Lee (66), 11. Richard Wee (64), 12. Christoper Mies (54), 13. Stefan Mucke (51), 14. Nasrat Muzayyin/Rui Aguas (47), 16. Craig Baird (42), 18. Alex Yoong (35), 18. Richard Lyons (34), 18. Jonathon Venter (34), 20, Lucas Guerrero (30), 21. Dilantha Malagamuwa (24), 22. Warren Luff (23), 23. Alessandro Guidi (22), 24. Daniel Bilski (20), 25. Carlo Van Dam/Tanart Sathienthirakul, Vuttikhorn Inthraphuvasak/Piti Bhirombhakdi (17), 30. Tatsuya Kataoka/Taiyou Iida (16), 32. Nathan Antunes, Tetuysa Tanaka/Motoyoshi Yoshida (15), 35. Kevin Gleason (14)
GTM Class
1. Thomas Fjordbach (124-points), 2. George Chou (118), 3. Jacky Yeung (114), 4. Takuma Aoki (112), 5. Wayne Shen (84), 6. Francis Tjia (74), 7. John Shen (70), 8. Ken Urata (66), 9. Keith Vong (44), 10. Keo Chang (39), 11. Robert Lee (30), 12. Craig Liu (27), 13. Samson Chan, Joe Hsu Cheng Chang (26), 15. Terry Fang, Ashraf Dewal (24), 17. Fukujirou (21), 18. Satoshi Hoshino, Scott Miau, Christian Chia, Marchy Lee (18), 19. Marcel Tjia (17), 20. Francis Hideki Onda (15), 21. Ryu Fukuda, Joseph Chua/Rick Cheang (14), 24. Ryu Ohtsuka, Nick Edwards, Ishihara Masayuki, Gamisan (10), 28. Juncheng Lin/James Cai (9), 30, Dominic Ang/Anthony Chan (8), 32. Lin Tsung Han (6)
2014 AAMC Macau GT Cup – Championship points
(after round 6 of 8)
1. Mok Weng Sun/Keita Sawa (88-points), 3. Davide Rizzo/Anthony Liu (73), 5. Rob Bell/Hiroshi Hamaguchi (65), 7. Jeffrey Lee/Chris Mies, Max Wiser (53), 10. Frank Yu/Stefan Mucke (51), 12. Richard Wee (39), 13. Jonathan Venter (31), 14. Lucas Guerrero (30), 15. Nasrat Muzayyin/Rui Aguas (26), 17. Kane Jiang (23), 18. Alessandro Guidi (20), 19. Craig Baird, Dilantha Malagamuwa (19), 21. Vuttikhorn Inthraphuvasak/Piti Bhirombhakdi, Daniel Bilski (17), 24. Tatsuya Kataoka/Taiyou Iida, Alex Yoong /Phillip Ma (16), 28. Nathan Antunes (15), 29. Kevin Gleason (14), 30. Samson Chan/Naoki Yokomizo (13)