24/08/2016

Shanghai International Circuit, China

Rnd#9/10, 2016 GT Asia Series (19-21 August, 2016)

 

• FFF Racing Team by ACM lead championship points after podium finish in Rnd#10

• Three-wide finish at the conclusion of the opening race, just 0.2-seconds first to third

• Rizzo/Liu claim second victory in Rnd#9, Sawa/Venter their third in Rnd#10

 

For those that watched the opening GT Asia Series race at Shanghai unfold on-line or LIVE throughout Asia, they were treated to one of the best GT3 races on record, the result of which was three cars - all from different marques - running side-by-side across the finish line to end what had been an incredible 60-minute sprint from lights to flag.

 

The fact that two-time Formula One World Champion Mika Hakkinen was the man waving that flag was icing on the cake, the Mercedes-AMG ambassador treated to a fantastic display of driving that had fans on their feet over the closing laps as rain began to fall, paving the way for local hero Anthony Liu to breach an almost impossible gap to claim the win on the line, the second for the BBT Ferrari team this year.

 

The following day another epic drive by Keita Sawa and Jonathan Venter netted their third win of the year, putting them back in the title race, whilst the FFF Racing Team by ACM - who started the second race with both their cars on the front row - head into the final round of the season with a nine point lead after claiming second in race two.

 

The weekend had started with another brilliant drive, this time for Audi’s Alex Yoong, the former Formula One driver claiming pole in the opening qualifying session from England’s Duncan Tappy and fan-favourite Franky Cheng - the three cars covered by just 32 one-thousandths of a second.. In fact, the gap from pole to eleventh was less than a second, promising a battle to remember for the opening race which was contested across the full Grand Prix circuit, with a lap of over two minutes.

 

Session two though was very much about strategy and with the two FFF Racing Team by ACM Lamborghini Huracan GT3s claiming the front row from the local Ferrari of Anthony Liu, there was always likely to be fireworks. In the end the man who developed the new Lamborghini GT3 - Jeroen Mul - was too good for his team mate in qualifying, dropping Andrea Amici back to P2, and they created a headache for Liu off the line during Sunday’s second race and in the process, dropped the Ferrari team back to second in points heading into the final event of the year.

 

As they had done through Friday’s three official practice sessions, Audi were quick straight out of the box, but this time it was Alex Yoong who laid down the early benchmark, a time which was ultimately unbeaten across the 15-minute session. Yoong though did suffer a few anxious moments back in the garage over the dying stages of the opening qualifier as both long-time rival Franky Cheng and Bentley’s Duncan Tappy got close. In the end, the margin between the three cars was just 32 one thousandths of a second, paving the way for a momentous opening race.

 

Sadly for the man who had thrown down the gauntlet with the fastest lap of the day during official practice on Friday - Yoong’s Phoenix Racing Asia team-mate - Marchy Lee, he was forced to sit out much of qualifying with a technical issue with their transaxle gearbox, the team ultimately forced to make an overnight change, but the damage had been done forcing two starts from much further back in the field than they’d deserved.

 

Not surprisingly, AMG were right in the mix with both their cars, with very little separating the ‘King of Macau’ - Maro Engel - and the second car of Nico Bastian - Engel claimed the top spot over his younger team-mate, but the margin between the two cars was a mere 13 one hundredths of a second, for fourth and fifth on the grid. That result saw them qualify ahead of the man who had been so dominant at Shanghai in the previous two GT Asia Series visits, Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Richard Lyons.

 

Despite signing on the elite pairing of Richard Antinucci and Jeroen Mul to pilot the second of the FFF Racing Team by ACM Lamborghini’s, it was the points leading #55 car who emerged on top in Q1, Edoardo Liberati posting the seventh fastest time ahead of title rival Davide Rizzo who admitted his goal for the weekend was to stay ahead of the two young Italian’s in the black Huracan..

South Korean round winner Jonathan Venter was next quickest, the young Australian admitting they weren’t working 100% in unison with their #8 Bentley Continental GT3, but that didn’t stop the Absolute Racing team from working tirelessly to find the sweet spot, whilst Antinucci rounded out the top ten.

 

Fuji winners Singha Motorsport were next, the first car outside the ten and still within a second of the pole time, whilst Shaun Thong was able to eke out a handful of laps before the gearbox issue sidelined the gold #5 car.

 

The returning Dasheng Zhang took top honours for the GruppeM Racing team, posting the 13th fastest time, whilst Tim Sugden admitted the team were struggling to find a good baseline setup for the Chinese F1 venue, and were further back than they would have liked..

 

Darryl O’Young claimed the 15th spot on the grid, side-by-side with 2015 title rival Adderly Fong, the Hong Kong driver just happy to be in the field after a big accident in practice forced an overnight rebuild by the Absolute Racing team, the only drama a loose turbo pipe which kept him from posting a quick lap.

 

Rounding out the field was the Team FIST with AAI Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo with Lin Yu behind the wheel, the GTM class crew just over four seconds shy of O’Young’s Porsche.

 

Ten minutes after the excitement of the opening qualifier, the teams were back in action again for Q2, and very quickly it looked like being a FFF Racing Team by ACM whitewash, with Jeroen Mul and Andrea Amici battling over the top spot whilst Friday’s pace setter Marchy Lee looked on helplessly in the garage.

 

As expected, Anthony Liu got in on the action and at one stage had split the two Lamborghini’s before Andrea Amici put in a late flyer to take back P2 whilst behind them, Jonathan Venter showed impressive pace to claim a fourth placed start.

 

Former GT Asia Series race winner Matt Solomon was next, taking the gorgeous #66 Mercedes-AMG Driving Academy-Team AAI AMG GT3 to P5 ahead of the ever-improving Vutthikorn Inthrapuvasak.

Alex Au carried on the impressive pace of team-leader Alex Yoong to claim P7, just ahead of New Zealand’s returning Jono Lester who admitted that like Sugden, they were struggling to find the perfect balance in the GruppeM Racing Porsche GT3-R.

 

Sun JingZu claimed ninth in his best ever effort in qualifying, showing immense improvement, the Chinese driver proving just how comfortable the amateur drivers are with extracting pace from the new Audi R8 LMS, whilst Andrew Kim rounded out the ten, the South Korean driver lamenting a lack of laps after team-mate Fong’s accident on Friday afternoon.

 

Piti Bhirombhakdi was a frustrated eleventh, the Thai driver back a lot further than could have been expected, qualifying half a second clear of his cousin Naiyanobh ‘Toy’ Bhirombhakdi in the #91 VLT Porsche of reigning champion Darryl O’Young.

 

Li Chao was next ahead of Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Frank Yu with Jun San Chen doing an impressive job in the GTM class Lamborghini to be 15th ahead of GT3 rookie Zhang Wenhe, whilst Marchy Lee was classified last despite being stranded in the pits with a technical issue, setting up what would be an inspirational drive through the field on Sunday afternoon.

 

Race#1 (Round#9)

Just a week prior to Shanghai, Phoenix Racing Asia’s Alex Yoong had stormed from pole in the Audi R8 LMS Cup to victory in Malaysia holding out DTM star Edoardo Mortara in a great display of driving that was set up by some brilliant team strategy with car setup. That allowed the former F1 star to bolt away from the field off the line, and it was clear they were employing a similar strategy for the opening race in China.

 

Yoong very quickly grabbed the lead from Franky Cheng off the line, but Duncan Tappy had made a better start than the local hero, firing the #9 Bentley up the inside into turn one to drop Cheng back to third.

 

Behind them Maro Engel grabbed fourth from team-mate Nico Bastian, with Richard Lyons sixth, although the experience GT Asia Series campaigner was soon back through to fifth, taking Bastian at turn three, whilst behind them Edo Liberati managed to stay ahead of title rival Davide Rizzo.

 

As he had done a week before, Yoong started to eke out a small gap to Tappy, but sadly for the Malaysian, he wasn’t able to stretch or maintain it, Tappy quickly locking in under the rear wing of the Takchun/Double Duck Audi and applying maximum pressure.

 

Yoong did everything he could to hold the position and he did so for much of the opening stint before Tappy ultimately made a move stick up the inside at turn one, although not without the slightest of touches as Yoong moved across to try and protect his lead. From there Tappy bolted, but like Yoong, his advantage was short-lived as traffic came into play allowing the Malaysian to tuck in behind him as they came in for the compulsory pit stop [CPS] in the closing stages of the pit-stop window.

 

Behind the leading trio Maro Engel was sitting in a watching brief, whilst behind him, Nico Bastian had worked his way past Lyons in the Porsche to lock onto the tail of his team-mate, and at one stage in traffic, pull alongside..

 

Further back the championship battle was firing up, and Davide Rizzo was caught between a pair of Lamborghinis, but that battle was soon won in favour of the Ferrari who entered the pits early to bolt on a fresh set of rubber and send Anthony Liu out to complete the job. 

 

Sadly for Richard Antinucci who’d been holding down a strong position inside the top ten, a tyre failure on the left rear after contact earlier in the race saw the American forced off the circuit and out of the race ahead of the scheduled stop.

 

After the stops were completed though it was Thailand’s Vutthikorn Inthrapuvasak who held a strong lead over Alex Au in the #6 Audi he shared with Alex Yoong, the former Audi Cup Amateur Class champion charging early to quickly catch the #9 Bentley, whilst behind them, Anthony Liu was on a mission, working his way through the pack to be third but more than 20-seconds back with 15 minutes remaining in the race.

 

Au looked to be the greatest threat to Vutthikorn’s lead, but as the Audi driver was preparing to make a move, light rain began to fall, the ‘Parabolica’ especially wet which caused some concern for the Bentley driver who had been struggling with exit-oversteer.

 

That was all the incentive that Liu needed, the two drivers in front of him losing up to four seconds a lap on the local Ferrari as Liu ranged in to catch them for a three-way fight for the lead.

 

Two laps from home he made a huge dive under brakes at turn 11, running well past the corner and into the runoff zone, Alex Au later admitting he could see the Ferrari coming so braked as late as he dared, allowing Vutthikorn a brief reprieve.

 

Very quickly Liu was back on their tail and through on Au ahead of the final lap, the three drivers doing everything they could to hang on in the slippery conditions, with drive off the corners almost impossible to come by. In the end it came down to the final corner, with Liu side-by-side with the Bentley on the run into the final corner, but out of position for a move, but Vutthikorn was off the ideal line on the exit allowing the Ferrari to pull alongside. At the same time Au pulled inside the two of them, all three involved in a drag race to the line with limited traction, Liu getting the best of it to win by just five one hundredths of a second, with Au making it three cars across the line in two tenths of a second..

 

Fourth ultimately was Marchy Lee who put in a meteoric drive from towards the back of the field to finish just seven seconds behind the leaders, with Andrea Amici keeping the FFF Racing Team by ACM’s title hopes alive with fifth in the dying stages, the result drawing them equal on points with race winners Liu and Rizzo heading into the tenth round of the season.

 

Sadly for AMG, Amici’s result came in part as a consequence of the retirement of the Matt Solomon Mercedes-AMG GT3, the young Hong Kong driver comfortably the fastest driver on track during his early laps after the CPS, but a technical issue with the gearbox saw him rapidly drop from Liu’s tail and back down the order before the team instructed him to pull off the circuit on the final lap. A quick look at his face post-race revealed what may well have been a repeat performance of his incredible debut win in GT Asia in 2013 with Mika Hakkinen.

 

After a tough qualifier, Piti Bhirombhakdi drove brilliantly through the damp conditions to claim sixth, ahead of Andrew Kim in the #7 Bentley and Jono Lester who put in a storming drive over the closing laps in the #98 GruppeM Porsche.

 

Sun JingZu (Audi) and Keita Sawa (Bentley) completed the ten, with Maro Engel’s team-mate - rookie Zhang Wenhe - an impressive eleventh on debut despite limited laps in the new AMG GT3 and in testing conditions.

 

Frank Yu was next across the line in the Interush Porsche GT3 R from Li Chao in the second GruppeM Porsche, whilst the Lin/Chen combination claimed the win in the GTM Class in the Team FIST by AAI Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo.

 

Race#2 (Round#10)

The opening race might have been exciting but even before a lap was turned for Sunday’s tenth round race you could feel the tension in pit lane with the championship entering the last but two races of the year. The emotions continued on the grid which had attracted a number of local celebrities, one of which was Shanghai’s former NBA basketball superstar Yao Ming, standing beside him, the relatively diminutive Mika Hakkinen - this race was building up to be the highlight of the year..

 

As expected the FFF Racing Team by ACM Lamborghinis were quickly into formation in turn one, with Mul leading Amici who was holding the fast starting Liu at bay in third, the Ferrari driver though under attack from Keita Sawa and Matt Solomon.

 

Perfectly to the script, by the close of the lap Amici was through on Mul who acted as ‘tail gunner’ for the his title contending team-mate, keeping Liu at bay as the #55 Huracan began to punch out a sequence of fastest laps at the front of the field.

 

Sadly for the #37 Ferrari, there was little Liu could do about Mul, having used two sets of their prime Michelin tyres in the opening race, Liu had little to offer the leaders, instead he was doing his best to defend from attack by Sawa behind him.

 

For Sawa and team-mate Jonathan Venter, they knew that race two was their chance to get back into the title fight, and Sawa was on a charge. Quickly through on Liu, he set off after the leaders and quickly caught Mul who managed to stay in front ahead of his CPS. After building an eleven second lead, Amici was into the pits for his CPS at the mid-point of the race, handing the car to team-mate Edoardo Liberati who emerged from the pits behind new race leader Tim Sugden.

 

That lead battle very quickly became a three-way affair with Jonathan Venter emerging from pit lane to pull alongside Liberati on the run into turn one, the Australian keeping the joint points-leader at bay before settling into a comfortable rhythm to set off in pursuit of Sugden.

 

Venter was quickly through, but behind him - mindful of the bigger picture - Liberati took a more conservative approach and the experienced Sugden was well aware that the young Italian would not jeopardise points with any desperate moves, so he was able to hold the Lamborghini at bay for a number of laps.

 

Sadly, despite showing pace good enough for a podium position, Sugden was forced down pit lane, an investigation revealing that the team had released him too soon during the CPS, incurring a frustrating drive-through penalty as a result, a position which also claimed the #66 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Matt Solomon and Nico Bastian, which effectively ended their charge for the podium.

 

Behind the leaders Duncan Tappy and Adderly Fong were on a charge through the pack, Tappy though on older rubber, whilst Fong was taking advantage of a fresh set of tyres, the team shuffling the order to let the Hong Kong driver through, although very quickly Tappy showed his used tyre pace was better, the Englishman taking back the position in the closing stages to cross the line third, two seconds down on Liberati.

 

Up front though there was no denying the winner, Jonathan Venter setting a cracking pace to cross the line almost 12-seconds clear of the field, whilst Marchy Lee and Shaun Thong put in one of the drives of the day to claim fifth behind Adderly Fong after starting from the rear of the field.

 

Richard Antinucci crossed the line sixth, with the hard charging Alex Yoong in the #6 Audi locked under his rear wing with Franky Cheng right on his tail.

 

Nico Bastian recovered for ninth, with Davide Rizzo a frustrated tenth, splitting the two Mercedes-AMG GT3s, the result dropping the BBT Ferrari team to second in the points. Starting well back in the pack, Maro Engel was comfortably the fastest driver in the field over the closing laps, the 2016 Nurburgring 24-Hour race winner setting a new lap record for the F1 circuit of 2:06.224 as he battled his way through the pack.

 

Darryl O’Young recovered 12th for the Craft-Bamboo Racing team after a frustrating opening stanza of the race which saw his team-mate ‘Toy’ Bhirombhakdi and team-boss Frank Yu making contact on the way into turn one. That spun both cars around, and saw Yu stranded mid-circuit facing the flow of traffic and unable initially to get the car started. For a brief moment that brought the Safety Car onto the circuit, but the Series veteran was able to recover, handing Richard Lyons the car at the start of the CPS to go on and complete the race.

 

Carlo Van Dam was another driver forced to make a recovery, the Fuji race winner working his way back through the field despite a slow leak in a tyre to claim 13th ahead of Sugden, whilst Zhang Dasheng crossed the line on the tail of his GruppeM team-mate just clear of Lyons in the identical Porsche GT3 R, whilst Lin Yu completed the field in the GTM Class Lamborghini.

 

As a result of their second placed finish and the struggle across the final laps by the BBT Ferrari team, the title fight comes down to the wire once more - a haulmark of the GT Asia Series over recent years - with Liberati and Amici holding a nine point lead over Liu and Rizzo, the Ferrari drivers though just a similar distance clear of a string of teams including two-time winners Marchy Lee and Shaun Thong, Okayama winners Adderly Fong and Andrew Kim, and their Bentley team-mate Vutthikorn Inthrapuvasak.

 

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1. Davide Rizzo (#37 BBT Ferrari 488 GT3) 
“At the beginning I just tried to hold my qualifying position. I lost a couple of positions off the start which was pretty messy, but the main thing was to avoid any contact, but then I made them back. I had a good fight with Edoardo [Liberati], he made the job a little tougher, but I eventually got past him. The win in Shanghai was more important than thinking about the championship, we still have three races ahead to do that.”

 

1. Anthony Liu (#37 BBT Ferrari 488 GT3) 
“Third was our target all along, as long as Davide maintained or improved his position, the simulation showed that third would be possible. If the rain hadn’t come today, there was no way we would have won. When the rain started to fall I could see the cars around me braking earlier but I was still able to brake at the same point, that’s when I knew it was possible. I saw at turn 13 - the ‘Parabolica’ that some drifting was required, so I knew it was possible because I actually like oversteer in a car.”

 

2. Duncan Tappy (#9 Bentley Team Absolute Bentley Continental GT3) 
“I much prefer to drive than watch, my nerves can’t handle it. My stint was pretty good, I got a good start and managed to tuck in behind Alex [Yoong] and over the first few laps I wondered if we had the pace to run with him, but then I could see that his tyres were starting to go off and a few places where we were quicker, so then it was just a matter of biding my time until I could find the best place to overtake, and I managed to do that in turn one. From there I pulled a bit of a gap, but the back markers allowed Alex [Yoong] to close again at the pit stop which probably didn’t help us. Vutthi did a brilliant job. We elected to stay on the same tyres we’d used in my stint, whilst everyone around us changed to fresh rubber, which in the end wasn’t the ideal scenario.”

 

2. Vutthikorn Inthrapuvasak (#9 Team Absolute Bentley Continental GT3) 
“My pace wasn’t as good as I needed - I tried to push, but couldn’t do anything more to go quicker. It got worse after the rain started to fall, lots of oversteer, so I had to brake much earlier and be very smooth on the throttle.”

 

3. Alex Yoong (#6 Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) 
“I’m very happy with our first podium of the year - it’s come quite late in the year, but we’ve just been getting better and better at every round we’ve come to. We’ve been experimenting with some quite different setups and it seems to have paid off. Our long run pace in the race saw the car develop oversteer from about lap three or four, so I knew it would be a struggle. The Bentley got us just before the pit stops, but I was right on its tail as he came in. We changed tyres and Alex did a really great job, he was charging hard at the end and I really thought we had a chance for a win at one point.”

 

3. Alex Au (#6 Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3)
 “My only complaint is really the rain. I was catching, catching and catching and when the rain started I was catching even more - he [Bentley] really defended the inside well, I could outbrake him on the outside but there was no move there, but by the time I’d constructed an overtake, a big red car was behind me and I had to start to think about him from then on..”

 

 

1. Keita Sawa (#8 Bentley Team Absolute Bentley Continental GT3)
 “We didn’t have such a great start to the weekend, and actually yesterday we still had some problems, but the team worked very hard on the car overnight and there were no issues today. I was more concerned with tyre conservation, so focused more on the last ten minutes before the pit stop and passed a few cars leaving my stop until the final minutes of the window to hand Jono the car. From there he was able to take the lead and pull away.”

 

1. Jonathan Venter (#8 Bentley Team Absolute Bentley Continental GT3) 
“That was a hard second stint, especially without the cool suit, it made the closing laps very difficult. This was very much a team result, because yesterday we had some damage to the front and rear of the car so they worked hard overnight to make repairs and today the car was absolutely perfect. Earlier in the weekend we struggled to find the perfect balance in the car, so we sat down to figure that out and I think today showed that as a team we were able to work around that and find a good solid solution. Sawa-san had a great start as always and had good pace and when he handed across to me I knew we had a good shot for the lead and we managed to stay in front of the Lamborghini and pass the Porsche [Sugden]. Hopefully that momentum will carry over to the next race, but for now we’re going to enjoy this one..!”

 

2. Andrea Amici (#55 FFF Racing  by ACM Lamborghini Huracan GT3) 
“It’s been a hard weekend, especially when you’re fighting for a championship, you have to be very focused. We have worked as a team all weekend to have the best setup we can. Yesterday I was not so happy with my qualifying time, I made a small mistake, but my job today was to open a gap and hand the car to Edo and that meant we were in a position to get a podium finish. The final stint of the race was hard too, because Edo didn’t have fresh tyres so he had to work hard for the finish. Yesterday it was important to finish in either P5 or P6 because to keep ourselves in the championship at a minimum we have to be P5 or P6 in one race and on the podium in the other, so it was fantastic that we were able to do that in the closing laps.”

 

2. Edoardo Liberati (#55 FFF Racing  by ACM Lamborghini Huracan GT3)
 “It was really, really tough following the Porsche [Sugden] around for so long, because at this track there’s a big drop-off in tyres, especially in these temperatures and our car develops a lot of understeer when you follow someone closely behind, but I also didn’t want to take any risk of contact. We’d saved a fresh set of tyres for the second race because we knew with our extra pitstop time penalty in race one it was impossible.”

 

3. Vutthikorn Inthrapuvasak (#9 Team Absolute Bentley Continental GT3) 
“I started in P6 and wanted to hand Duncan the car in the same position but I couldn’t manage to do that because my tyre pressures came in very late which was the plan, so I gave him the car from P7 and he put in some great moves in the final ten minutes to give us P3.”

 

3. Duncan Tappy (#9 Bentley Team Absolute Bentley Continental GT3)
 “Our pace was pretty similar to yesterday to be honest, but we didn’t have any new tyres for today so we had to just do our best. Yesterday we had to think about whether we’d go all out for the win, or play the numbers game and try and get some podiums for the weekend. In some ways I regretted it a bit because I would have loved the win yesterday, but two podiums was pretty good, especially in todays race when we had the additional 9-second pit stop penalty for yesterday’s result.”

 

Shanghai International Circuit, China (20 August, 2016)

Qualifying #1 (15-minutes)

1. 6. Alex Yoong (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) - 2:05.906

2. 13. Franky Cheng (Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3) - 2:05.931

3. 9. Duncan Tappy (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) - 2:05.938

4. 68. Maro Engel (Mercedes-AMG GT3) - 2:06.033

5. 66. Nico Bastian (Mercedes-AMG GT3) - 2:06.136

6. 88. Richard Lyons (Craft-Bamboo Racing Porsche GT3-R) - 2:06.157

7. 55. Edoardo Liberati (FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3) - 2:06.410

8. 37. Davide Rizzo (BBT Ferrari 488 GT3) - 2:06.541

9. 8. Jonathan Venter (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) - 2:06.813

10. 15. Richard Antinucci (FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3) - 2:06.851

11. 12. Carlo Van Dam (Singha Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) - 2:06.857

12. 5. Shaun Thong (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) - 2:06.963

13. 96. Zhang Dasheng (GruppeM Racing Porsche GT3-R) - 2:08.010

14. 98. Tim Sugden (GruppeM Racing Porsche GT3-R) - 2:08.063

15. 91. Darryl O’Young (Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche GT3-R) - 2:08.253

16. 7. Adderly Fong (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) - 2:11.166

17. 90. Lin Yu (Team FIST with AAI Lamborghini Super Trofeo) - 2:12.402

 

Qualifying #2 (15-minutes)

1. 15. Jeroen Mul (FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3) - 2:06.297

2. 55. Andrea Amici (FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3) - 2:06.584

3. 37. Anthony Liu (BBT Ferrari 488 GT3) - 2:06.736

4. 8. Keita Sawa (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) - 2:06.803

5. 66. Matt Solomon (Mercedes-AMG GT3) - 2:07.174

6. 9. Vutthikorn Inthrapuvasak (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) - 2:07.243

7. 6. Alex Au (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) - 2:07.827

8. 98. Jono Lester (GruppeM Racing Porsche GT3-R) - 2:08.237

9. 13. Jingzu Sun (Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3) - 2:08.962

10. 7. Andrew Kim (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) - 2:08.968

11. 12. Piti Bhirombhakdi (Singha Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) - 2:09.108

12. 91. Naiyanobh Bhirombhakdi (Craft-Bamboo Racing Porsche GT3-R) - 2:09.644

13. 96. Chao Li (GruppeM Racing Porsche GT3-R) - 2:09.962

14. 88. Frank Yu (Craft-Bamboo Racing Porsche GT3-R) - 2:10.181

15. 90. Jun San Chen (Team FIST with AAI Lamborghini Super Trofeo) - 2:11.048

16. 68. Zhang Wenhe (Mercedes-AMG GT3) - 2:11.390

17. 5. Marchy Lee (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) - NTR

 

Race#1 (60-minutes)

1. 37. Rizzo/Liu (BBT Ferrari 488 GT3) - 28-laps

2. 9. Tappy/Inthraphuvasak (Absolute Bentley Continental GT3) +0.052

3. 6. Yoong/Au (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) +0.221

4. 5. Thong/Lee (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) +7.503

5. 55. Liberati/Amici (FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3) +30.971

6. 12. Van Dam/Bhirombhakdi (Singha Motorsport Ferrari 458 GT3) +32.820

7. 7. Fong/Kim (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) +33.188

8. 98. Sugden/Lester (GruppeM Racing Porsche GT3-R) +38.261

9. 13. Cheng/Sun (Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3) +44.516

10. 8. Venter/Sawa (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) +55.751

11. 68. Engel/Zhang (Mercedes-AMG GT3) + 1:05.900

12. 88. Lyons/Yu (Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche GT3-R) +1:34.275

13. 96. Zhang/Li (GruppeM Racing Porsche GT3-R) + 2:08.605

14. 66. Bastian/Solomon (Mercedes-AMG GT3) - 27-laps

15. 91. O’Young/Bhirombhakdi (Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche GT3-R) - 26-laps

16. 90. Lin/Chen (Team FIST with AAI Lamborghini Super Trofeo)

17. 15. Antinucci/Mul (FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3) - 9-laps

 

Shanghai International Circuit, China (21 August, 2016)

Race#2 (60-minutes)

1. 8. Venter/Sawa (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) - 28-laps

2. 55. Liberati/Amici (FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3) +11.515

3. 9. Tappy/Inthraphuvasak (Absolute Bentley Continental GT3) +13.386

4. 7. Fong/Kim (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) +14.425

5. 5. Thong/Lee (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) +17.096

6. 15. Mul/Antinucci (FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3) +20.292

7. 6. Au/Yoong (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) +20.851

8. 13. Sun/Cheng (Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3) +21.412

9. 66. Solomon/Bastian (Mercedes-AMG GT3) +23.647

10. 37. Liu/Rizzo (BBT Ferrari 488 GT3) +37.664

11. 68. Zhang/Engel (Mercedes-AMG GT3) + 44.805

12. 91. Bhirombhakdi/O’Young (Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche GT3-R) +47.468

13. 12. Bhirombhakdi/Van Dam (Singha Motorsport Ferrari 458 GT3) +50.850

14. 98. Lester/Sugden (GruppeM Racing Porsche GT3-R) +54.560

15. 96. Li/Zhang (GruppeM Racing Porsche GT3-R) +55.757

16. 88. Yu/Lyons (Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche GT3-R) +1:39.011

17. 90. Chen/Lin (Team FIST with AAI Lamborghini Super Trofeo) - 26-laps

 

GT3 Championship points (after ten rounds of 12)

1. Edoardo Liberati/Andrea Amici (119-points), 2. Anthony Liu/Davide Rizzo (110), 3. Vutthikorn Inthrapuvasak (96), 4. Marchy Lee/Shaun Thong (94), 5. Adderly Fong/Andrew Kim (92), 6. Jonathan Venter (91), 7. Keita Sawa, Piti Bhirombhakdi/Carlo Van Dam (84), 8. Duncan Tappy (81), 9. Alex Yoong/Alex Au (80), 10. Frank Yu/Richard Lyons, Tim Sugden (56), 11. Darryl O’Young/Naiyanobh Bhirombhakdi (49), 12. Jono Lester (32), 13. Mok Weng Sun (28), 14. George Miedecke (18), 15. Gianmaria Bruni (15), 16. George Richardson (14), 17. Ashley Walsh, Franky Cheng/JingZu Sun, Richard Wee (13), 18. Philip Ma (10), 19. Andrew Palmer (8), 20. Christer Jöns, Fabian Hamprecht (7), 21. Nathan Morcom (5)

 

Pro-Am Cup points (after ten rounds of 12)

1. Anthony Liu (123-points), 2. Shaun Thong (119), 3. Vutthikorn Inthrapuvasak (110), 4. Andrew Kim (109), 5. Piti Bhirombhakdi (105), 6. Alex Au (100), 7. Frank Yu (76), 8. Naiyanobh Bhirombhakdi (72), 9. Philip Ma (25), 10. Mok Weng Sun (17), 10. JingZu Sun (16)

 

Pro Cup points (after ten rounds of 12)

1. Edoardo Liberati/Andrea Amici (119), 2. Davide Rizzo (110), 3. Marchy Lee (94), 4. Adderly Fong (92), 5. Jonathan Venter (91), 6. Keita Sawa, Carlo Van Dam (84), 8. Duncan Tappy (81), 9. Alex Yoong (80), 11. Tim Sugden (62), 12. Richard Lyons (56), 13. Darryl O’Young (50), 14. Jono Lester (32), 15. George Miedecke (17), 16. Gianmaria Bruni (15), 17. George Richardson (14), 18. Franky Cheng, Ashley Walsh (13), 20. Andrew Palmer (8), 21. Christer Jöns, Fabian Hamprecht (7), 23. Nathan Morcom (4)

 

GT Cup points (after ten rounds of 12)

1. Kantasak Kusiri/Bhurit Bhirombhakdi (84-points), 3. Voravud Bhirombhakdi/Tin Sritra (34), 5. Aekrat Discharoen (32), 6. Suttiluck Buncharoen, Toshihito Funai/Masayuki Ueda (16), 9. Akihiro Asai/Ken Seto (14)

 

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This season Fox Sports Asia and Star Sports in China will also broadcast every event of the GT Asia Series live (race two in full, with highlights from the opening race), whilst the series itself will also live-stream every round with experienced commentators Jonathan Green - the voice of GT Asia - joined by Steve Martin to call both live television and live streaming action as it unfolds. 

 

Details of the streams and the broadcast times will be available on the GT Asia Series website - www.gtasiaseries.com - and through social media; www.facebook.com/GTAsiaSeries will also post news, video clips, images and updates, and you can also get involved in the conversation on www.twitter.com/GTAsiaSeries 

 

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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 solely managed and promoted by Motorsport Asia Ltd and is backed by Singha, Michelin, KW Automotive, Motul, Race Room, Panta, YOFC and Tunewear.