HubAuto Locks in Blancpain GT Asia Return

Photo: SRO

HubAuto Corsa has confirmed its return to Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia with a new lineup in its Ferrari 488 GT3.

The Taiwanese squad will run its Blancpain GT Asia campaign in addition to its full-season entry in the Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli.

It revealed shortly before the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour that it would represent Ferrari in the full five-race globe-trotting championship.

Yuya Sakamoto and David Russell will share one of HubAuto’s cars in SRO Motorsports Group’s Asian GT3 sprint championship this season.

Last year it ran one car for Nick Foster, who finished runner-up in the drivers’ standings, while the second seat was shared between Leo Ye and Jono Lester.

HubAuto’s second Ferrari was driven by team owner Morris Chen and Tim Slade, with Ferrari factory driver Davide Rigon subbing in for the latter at Fuji.

Sakamoto, a regular in both Super GT and Super Taikyu, moves across from Porsche Team EBI with which he made appearances at the Japanese Blancpain GT Asia rounds in 2017.

Australian Russell has recently competed in Virgin Australia Supercars Championship endurance races in addition to appearances at the Bathurst 12 Hour.

“We are excited to be returning to Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia for a second season,” said team owner Morris Chen.

“The team had a great first year in 2018 when it won races and came very close to also clinching the Drivers’ Championship at the final round. Now the aim is very simple: to go one better.

“We had other options for this season but it’s important that we continue to support motorsport in Asia.”

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.