Weekly Racing Roundup (7.18.22)

CarGuy’s Tire Gamble Pays Off

A successful strategy gamble from CarGuy Racing enabled Kei Cozzolino to charge through the field and win the first race of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS round at Suzuka, which kicked off a four-round Japanese leg for the series.

Cozzolino and Takeshi Kimura took victory after their CarGuy team elected to put the former on slick tires in damp conditions while those in front remained on wets.

That proved to be a decisive call, as Cozzolino made up 12 positions in the closing 30 minutes to come out on top in the inaugural race for GTWC Asia’s Japan Cup class.

There was drama at the start for the CarGuy Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020, which was demoted from fourth to 12th by contact that caused Kimura to spin around.

The incident came at the restart for an early safety car, caused by the pole-sitting Yogibo Racing Ferrari rotated into the barriers on the opening lap in tricky conditions.

Kantadhee Kusiri led through to the pit window in the EBM Giga Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, before handing over to Tanart Sathienthirakul who was reeled in and passed by Porsche Center Okazazki’s Yuta Kamimura and Triple Eight JMR’s Nick Foster.

Behind, Cozzolino was on a charge in his slick-shod Ferrari that was lapping significantly quicker than the front-runners. He dispatched Kamimura at the chicane on the penultimate lap and ended up eight seconds clear at the finish.

The second race was marked by several incidents that produced the first overall-winning Am class crew in GTWC Asia history.

Comet Racing’s Yusuke Yamasaki and Yorikatsu Tsujiko prevailed in their Honda NSX GT3 Evo22 after benefiting from four interruptions including one at the end.

Cozzolino’s early lead was restricted by two safety cars, the latter occurring as the pit window opened on 25 minutes.

When that happened the majority of the front-runners had already passed pit entry, but some further back including the Honda gained an advantage by pitting straight away.

Yamasaki remained ahead through two more safety cars: the first for Prince Abu Bakar Ibrahim touching Kusiri and sending both off the road at Spoon, and the second for Satoshi Hoshino spinning his Aston Martin Vantage GT3 into a bystanding GT4 Mercedes.

The final intervention left no time for a restart, handing victory to Comet while Prince Abdul Rahman Ibrahim and Foster took second in their Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

RESULTS: Race 1 / Race 2

Other Racing & News

***Vincenzo Sospiri Racing finished first and second in a Lamborghini sweep of the podium at the second round of the Italian GT Endurance Championship. Michele Beretta, Yuki Nemoto and Edoardo Liberati won the two-hour race at Mugello, 43 seconds clear of VSR teammates Karol Basz, Benjamin Hites and Mattia Michelotto. Imperiale Racing finished third. Results

***Reiter Engineering and Toksport WRT took a win apiece in the latest Prototype Cup Germany round at the Nürburgring. Freddie Hunt and Mads Siljehaug, who compete together in Michelin Le Mans Cup, won the first race on the Nürburgring’s short configuration in Reiter’s Ligier JS P320 Nissan. After crashing out of the Race 1 lead, Berkay Besler bounced back alongside his Toksport co-driver Marvin Dienst to win the second encounter. Race 1 / Race 2 unavailable

***Over at the Lausitzring, the ADAC Racing Weekend meeting included the GTC series, which held a one-hour race that was won by Thierry Vermuelen in a Car Collection Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II. Maximilian Goetz and Carrie Schreiner finished second in a Space Drive steer-by-wire equipped Mercedes-AMG. Space Drive founder and Schaeffler Paravan CEO Roland Arnold also took part in the event. Results

***China’s GT Super Sprint Challenge held its first round of the year at Ningbo, where ‘Rio’ claimed Race 1 honors in an Uno Racing-prepared Audi and Wei Lu took victory in the second race for Lamborghini squad Phantom Pro Racing. The next GTSSC round takes place at Ningbo on August 6-7.

***ST Racing has finalized its driver lineup for the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa. Samantha Tan, Nick Wittmer, Harry Gottsacker and Maxime Oosten will drive the Canadian squad’s BMW M4 GT3. The first three drivers are familiar with ST, while Oosten comes from BMW single-make competition.

On this weekend: Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS  (Virginia), Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS (Fuji), Intelligent Money British GT Championship (Spa-Francorchamps)