Bentley Team Absolute driver Adderly Fong (Hong Kong) scored a pair of runner-up finishes in the latest two rounds of the Pirelli World Challenge Championship at Utah Motorsports Campus. He also came away with the fastest race lap of the weekend.
In the heat of the Utah desert, Fong qualified his No. 88 Bentley Continental GT3 sixth for Saturday’s Round 16 race. At the start, a spinning car blocked Fong’s path through Turn One, dropping him to 10th as the race went full-course yellow. On the ensuing restart, Fong perfectly navigated another Turn One accident, and climbed all the way to third.
From there, Fong put pressure on the No. 43 Acura TLX-GT for several laps, before eventually moving into second place. He had his sights set on the leader, but ran out of time to catch him before the checkered flag.
Fast race laps from Saturday set the grid for Sunday’s Round 17 event. This put Fong fourth on the grid. A well-timed start had the Bentley up to third on the first lap. One lap later he was up to second and filling the mirrors of the lead Nissan GTR GT3.
Setting the fastest race lap of the weekend, a 1:49.370, Fong was able close the gap to under a half-second. As the lead pack caught GT Cup traffic, however, the third-place Porsche forced Fong to go on the defense. Despite his quick pace, a win was not in the cards for Fong this day, but a second-straight P2 finish was.
In his rookie Pirelli World Challenge season, the Bentley driver has now collected four podium finishes with three rounds remaining in the GT Championship.
The Pirelli World Challenge races from Utah Motorsport Campus will air on CBS Sports Network. Sunday, August 21, at 2pm ET.
Bentley Team Absolute now has its eyes on Sonoma Raceway, September 16 – 18.
ADDERLY FONG (HK) #88 BENTLEY CONTINENTAL GT3
“The Pirelli World Challenge competition has been really tough. All the tracks have been new to me, so it’s been a long learning process. I think now, we’ve found a groove with the car and the team is gelling together. Everyone is working so hard and we’re doing the GT Asia Championship too—everyone is tired, but everyone is putting the work in and it’d be nice to reward them with a winner’s trophy!
“I got caught out at the start of Race One. Michael Lewis (No. 98 Porsche 911 GT3-R) was spinning in front of me. I had no place to go. That dropped me back down to 10th. On the restart, I picked the inside line instead of the outside. Two cars came together and kept everyone bunched up on the outside and I went through smoothly.
“On Sunday, I piled as much pressure as I could on Bryan Heitkotter (No. 05 Nissan GTR GT3) but he drove perfectly and didn’t make any mistakes. I was managing the tires and trying to stay close in case he did make an error. As I got close, I think Patrick Long (No. 58 Porsche 911 GT3-R) saw the opportunity, knowing we’d slow each other down, and he attacked. I was able to keep him at bay, but when we got to GT Cup traffic it slowed me down a bit.”