De Oliveira Joins Craft-Bamboo for Okayama

SUPER GT star Joao Paulo de Oliveira will join Craft-Bamboo Racing for this weekend’s Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS round at Okayama.

De Oliveira will partner Cao Qi aboard the Hong Kong squad’s No. 30 Mercedes-AMG GT3, which Cao has shared with Daniel Morad and Maro Engel so far this season.

Both Morad and Engel are unavailable for the Okayama round due to clashes with the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge and Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup respectively.

It will mark de Oliveira’s first foray outside of SUPER GT since his appearances in the FIA World Endurance Championship last year for Vanwall Racing.

The Brazilian, who usually drives a Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 for Kondo Racing in Japan, credited fellow SUPER GT title winner and Craft-Bamboo advisor Richard Lyons for the opportunity to join the team.

“I’m excited and looking forward to joining Craft-Bamboo Racing for the Okayama Round,” said de Oliveira. “I have known Richard Lyons for a very long time and he was essential for this opportunity to come together, so I’m thankful to him.

“I will do all I can to help the team with my experience at the Okayama circuit. It will also be my first time driving an AMG GT3, so I’m excited to find out how the car handles and get up to speed with it.”

Craft-Bamboo’s sister No. 88 Mercedes-AMG will be driven by Jeffrey Lee and Fabian Schiller, who makes his second consecutive appearance in the car.

A total of 31 cars are set to contest the Okayama Fanatec GT Asia round, representing a decrease of one from the previous round at Suzuka, due to the absence of the No. 19 Spirit of FFF Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II.

Other notable driver changes include Bastian Buus joining Origine Motorsport’s No. 4 Porsche 911 GT3 R alongside championship leader Lu Wei and Luca Stolz returning to the No. 888 Triple Eight JMR Mercedes-AMG.

The No. 13 Phantom Global Porsche meanwhile has an entirely new lineup for Okayama comprising Dorian Boccolacci and Xie An.