30 Cars Entered for Buriram

A total of 30 cars will contest this weekend’s third round of the GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS at the Buriram circuit in Thailand.

Released on Monday, the entry list is missing three full-season cars: the No. 18 Porsche Centre Okazaki Porsche 911 GT3 R, which is absent due to a clash with the Fuji 24 Hours, the No. 44 Climax Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo and the No. 61 EBM Porsche.

The No. 98 Absolute Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 that was an additional entry for the opening rounds of the season at Sepang and Mandalika is also sitting out the weekend.

Bastian Buus will make his second outing of the season in the No. 4 Origine Motorsport Porsche alongside Lu Wei, with Alessio Picariello instead contesting the clashing GTWC Europe Endurance Cup fixture at Monza.

The No. 19 Absolute Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 has an all-new crew for the weekend as Edoardo Mortara is away on Formula E duty in Shanghai, with his replacement Loris Spinelli joined by Thailand Super Series regular Henk Kiks.

Elsewhere in the Absolute stable, Patrick Pilet returns to the cockpit of the No. 911 car alongside Wang Zhongwei, his place having been taken by Harry King at Mandalika.

Elias Seppanen is making his first appearance of the season alongside Liu Hangcheng in the No. 55 Harmony Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 normally piloted by Lorenzo Patrese.

‘Hirobon’ meanwhile returns to the cockpit of the No. 500 Team 5ZIGEN Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 alongside Yu Kanamaru, his full-season teammate last year.

Ben Green makes his second outing in a row replacing Alexander Sims in the No. 99 Johor Motorsports Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, while ex-Formula 1 racer Giancarlo Fisichella is also back in the No. 60 LM Corsa Ferrari after his Mandalika debut.

Official practice at Buriram begins on Friday, which also features Pre-Qualifying, with qualifying proper taking place on Saturday ahead of the opening race at 3 p.m. local time (2 a.m. EST). The second race follows on Sunday at 10:45 a.m. (Saturday 9:45 p.m. EST).