Weekly Racing Roundup (9.25.23)

Liu Seals First GTWC Asia Title at Sepang 

Anthony Liu became the first Chinese driver to win the Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS overall title after protecting his championship lead in the final round of the season at Sepang.

Liu and his Mercedes-AMG factory co-driver Daniel Juncadella finished second in the opening 60-minute race, giving the former a 19-point cushion heading into the finale.

Despite only crossing the line in 10th on Sunday, Liu’s nearest rivals Vutthikorn Inthraphuvasak and Prince Abu Bakar Ibrahim didn’t manage to overcome the deficit.

The opening race of the weekend saw Andrew Haryanto and James Kuai Yu prevail for Audi Sport Team Asia Absolute.

Haryanto kept Liu’s Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo at bay after three safety car restarts in an incident-filled opening stint, before handing over to Yu.

The Chinese driver kept Juncadella at bay over the remaining laps to take victory by 1.8 seconds, earning his and Haryanto’s second win of the season.

Mikael Grenier and Ibrahim completed the podium after Grenier overtook Edoardo Mortara, Leo Ye Hongli and Eshan Pieris to keep his co-driver’s slim title hopes alive.

However, those hopes were extinguished in the final race of the season which was won by Patrick Pilet and Wei Lu at the head of a one-two for the R&B Racing Porsche squad.

Alvaro Parente converted pole into an early lead for HubAuto Racing but his co-driver Morris Chen was caught and passed by the R&B Porsches of Lu and Bo Yuan after the driver swaps.

Grenier and Ibrahim again finished third as Chen slipped to eighth, but it wasn’t enough to deny Liu both the overall and Pro-Am titles despite the Craft-Bamboo driver losing ground with a spin

RESULTS: Race 1 / Race 2

Honors Even Between Gidley, Daskalos at Sebring

Memo Gidley and Jason Daskalos shared the spoils across the two 45-minute GT America powered by AWS races at Sebring International Raceway.

The first and second-placed drivers in the SRO3 standings also finished second to each other to maintain an 18-point difference with two races remaining in the season.

That arguably made it a better weekend for TKO Motorsports’ championship leader Gidley, who returned to the top step of the podium for the first time since June.

He finished 10 seconds clear in Race 1 as Daskalos concentrated his efforts on defending second place from Adam Adelson and George Kurtz.

A three-position grid drop for Gidley, handed out because of a fault with his Mercedes-AMG’s tire pressure monitoring system, meant that Daskalos started Race 2 from pole.

The CRP Racing driver capitalized on the situation to take the win, as Gidley overtook Kurtz in the early running to claim second.

Jason Bell and Tony Gaples shared the wins in the GT4 class.

RESULTS: Race 1 / Race 2

Oregon Wins GT Open Thriller on Drying Track

Maximilian Paul and Pierre Louis Chovet notched up their fourth International GT Open win of the season after beating GetSpeed Performance’s Adam Walker and James Wallis on a drying track in Race 1 at Monza.

GetSpeed’s decision to keep its Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo on wet tires looked to have paid dividends when James Wallis charged into the lead ahead of Chovet on slicks.

However, Chovet responded and overtook the 17-year-old Brit around the outside at the first Lesmo before securing the win.

Oregon looked on course for a one-two when Pietro Perolini challenged Wallis in the team’s other Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO, but the Italian control exiting Curva Grande and slid into the barriers.

Walker and Wallis ended up third in the Race 1 classification after receiving a three-second penalty for Walker turning around Timo Rumpfkeil at the Rettifilio chicane.

The second race yielded a second victory in as many events for the AF Corse Ferrari duo of Riccardo Agostini and Nicola Marinangeli.

Agostini was among the front-runners during the first stint but Marinangeli rose to the lead during the pit cycle, which concluded with a safety car caused by two incidents.

Marinangeli controlled the field at the restart and held off Mikaeel Pitamber’s SPS Automotive Performance Mercedes-AMG by two seconds at the checkered flag.

It was a low-key weekend for the title protagonists but Diego Menchaca left Monza three points ahead of Charlie Fagg and Sam De Haan with one round remaining.

RESULTS: Race 1 / Race 2

Walkenhorst Spoils Frikadelli’s Nürburgring Return

Nürburgring 24 winner Frikadelli Racing Team finished second on its return to the SP9 class at the Nordschleife as Christian Krognes and Jakub Giermaziak took their third consecutive NLS win for Walkenhorst Motorsport.

Klaus Abbelen’s team fielded a new black-liveried Ferrari 296 GT3 in Saturday’s four-hour contest and recalled N24 winners David Pittard, Nicky Catsburg and Felipe Fernandez Laser to its driver lineup. The N24-winning Ferrari was retired aftter its landmark victory.

After battling with Krognes and Giermaziak, the race outcome was decided in Walkenhorst’s favor at the final round of pit stops.

Catsburg pitted with Krognes right on his tail as heavy rain arrived at Tiergarten.

Walkenhorst had a strategic advantage by pitting one lap later, therefore enjoying a shorter final stop, but Frikadelli also took longer than expected to complete its service due to stalling over its tire selection and a decision to change the Ferrari’s brakes.

That was enough for Krognes to see the checkered flag almost two and a half minutes before Catsburg, who ended the race on slicks.

“At the last pit stop, we changed the brakes, which was also part of our test program,” said Abbelen.

“We used up a little more time since the prospect of overall victory had no longer been given. Due to the new BoP adaptation for the Ferrari, we were not able to keep up with the pace of the BMW this weekend.”

Frank Stippler and Vincent Kolb finished third after the former driver started from pole in the No. 5 Scherer Sport PHX Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II.

RESULTS: ADAC Barbarossapreis

Other Racing Action & News

***Team Joos claimed a one-two in the second ADAC GT Masters race at the Red Bull Ring where Christian Engelhart and Michael Joos beat Sven Mueller and Finn Gehrsitz by 1.8 seconds. The opening race of the weekend went to the FK Performance Motorsport BMW pairing of Bruno Spengler and Maxime Oosten. They finished third on the road but won after two cars, including the points-leading Landgraf Motorsport Mercedes-AMG, were disqualified for not having the required 2 kg of fuel left in the tank. Race 1 / Race 2

***Wayne Boyd and John Schauerman won an incident-filled penultimate round of the Michelin Le Mans Cup season at Spa-Francorchamps. It came after an issue with their Ligier JS P320 Nissan on the grid consigned it to start from the pit lane. Boyd finished 11 seconds ahead of the No. 97 Cool Racing Ligier, which was later demoted to seventh for not slowing down sufficiently into a Full Course Yellow. GMB Motorsport’s Simon Birch and Thomas Andersen lost the GT3 win for the same reason. Results

***Porsche factory GTP driver Felipe Nasr made his NLS debut last weekend in a Porsche Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport. The Brazilian shared the only car in the alternative fuels AT-G class with Alesia and Jacqueline Kreuzpointner. “The idea behind my commitment is to obtain the DPN A [permit] and then perhaps take part in the 24-hour race here in the future,” said Nasr.

On this weekend: Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup (Barcelona), Porsche Rennsport Reunion 7 (WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca)