Weekend Racing Roundup, 10.26

More championships were decided this weekend. At Chang International Circuit in Buriram, Thailand rounds 10 and 11 of the GT Asia Series were held, while the French GT Championship held its season finale at Paul Ricard. Bentley, Aston Martin, Ferrari and Audi scored a win each in the two series.

GT Asia Series
Darryl O’Young clinched the GT Asia Series title in the final race of the 2015 season in Buriram, Thailand. The Craft-Bamboo Racing driver won Sunday’s season finale with teammate Daniel Lloyd.

Contact with a GTM-class Porsche in qualifying meant the Craft-Bamboo Racing Aston Martin Vantage started from the back of the grid. O’Young drove brilliantly to cut through the field, before handing over to Lloyd. Lloyd managed to fight his way back to fourth place, behind title rivals Keita Sawa and Adderly Fong in their Bentley. Fellow Bentley drivers Duncan Tappy and Benny Simonsen won the first race.

The result meant O’Young, Sawa and Fong all had 137 points ahead of the final race. Fong had a slow getaway, allowing Lloyd to move into the lead. He kept the Bentleys at bay after a safety car period and O’Young was able to finish his season in style, by securing the title with a race win in Thailand.

Race 1 – 1. Absolute Racing (Tappy/Simonsen) Bentley, 2. FFF Racing Team (Parente/Hamaguchi) McLaren, 3. Absolute Racing (Sawa/Fong) Bentley.

Race 2 – 1. Craft Bamboo Racing (O’Young/Lloyd) Aston Martin, 2. BBT (Rizzo/Liu) Ferrari, 3. Absolute Racing (Sawa/Fong) Bentley.

French GT Championship
Team AKKA ASP won the 2015 French GT Championship at Paul Ricard this weekend, with IMSA Performance Matmut drivers Olivier Pernaut, Raymond Narac and Sebastien Dumez claiming the drivers title in France.

Despite a 20-seconds penalty for winning the last race in Navarra, Jean-Luc Beaubelique, Morgan Moulin Traffort and Rino Mastronardi were able to repeat that performance in the opening round at Circuit Paul Ricard on Saturday. The Team AKKA ASP drivers beat the Sebastien Loeb Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra by a mere 1.6 seconds, securing the teams’ title. With the IMSA Performance Matmut drivers only finishing in tenth place, the drivers’ championship would be decided in the second race.

The title contenders all had a difficult final race of the season. The Team AKKA ASP Ferrari retired from the race after an incident on the opening lap. It seemed as if IMSA Performance Matmut would have an easy afternoon, until Narac hit the tires and lost time in the pits. Despite finishing eighth in the end the IMSA Performance Matmut drivers scored enough points to claim the title.

Race 1 – 1. Team AKKA ASP (Mastronardi/Beaubelique/Moulin-Traffort) Ferrari, 2. Sebastien Loeb Racing (Hamon/Bottemanne/Martins) Audi, 3. Sport Garage (Pia/Tar/Ayari) Ferrari.

Race 2 – 1. Sebastien Loeb Racing (Hallyday/Gaillard/Parisy) Audi, 2. Sebastien Loeb Racing (Hamon/Bottemanne/Martins) Audi, 3. Sport Garage (Vannelet/Lamic/Guibbert) Ferrari.

Other series
The final round of the 2015 Super Taikyu Series took place at Suzuka and was won by the GTNET ADVAN C-WEST Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 of ‘Gamisan’, Kazuki Hoshino and Hiroki Yoshida. The Endless Advan BMW Z4 GT3 won the title.

At the Nürburgring Jürgen Bender (Corvette) and Sven Fisch (Koppehel) won the final races of the Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy. Black Falcon entered two Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 cars, but finished outside the top three.