Four Rounds Called Off as Season Start Postponed

Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS has postponed the start of its 2021 season to the second half of the year “at the earliest”, resulting in four rounds being called off.

The campaign was due to open at Sepang on May 28-30 but travel restrictions between countries in the Asia-Pacific region combined with internal coronavirus measures have prompted a major schedule adjustment.

In addition to the season-opener, the planned rounds at Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit in June, Thailand’s Chang International Circuit at Buriram in July and Japan’s Twin Ring Motegi have been postponed without new dates confirmed at present.

The SRO-run championship, which was forced to cancel its 2020 season due to the coronavirus pandemic, has declared that it still intends to stage races in East Asia this year.

However, this will depend on whether travel restrictions and quarantine measures allow for an event to take place.

GTWC Asia will make a “definitive decision” on the future of its scheduled Chinese rounds at Shanghai on Sep. 10-12 and Zhuhai on Oct. 15-17 in the “coming months”.

The outcome of those choices will then determine whether the four called-off rounds are given new dates in the fall to complete the season.

“Generally, the global outlook is positive, as evidenced by GT World Challenge America, Australia and Europe all staging their opening events over the last month,” said Asia series co-director Benjamin Franassovici.

“However, Asia’s championship is logistically and geographically more complex to organize and requires a clearer outlook across the region before we can go racing.

“We still very much hope to stage events before the end of this season and remain committed to finding solutions that will allow us to do so. But we are also already looking closely at 2022 and hope to announce next year’s calendar in the coming months.”