Sepang Season Opener Attracts 23-Car Grid

The new GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS season begins this weekend at Sepang with 23 cars on the entry list and seven manufacturers represented.

It marks a one-car decrease from the final round of the 2025 campaign on the streets of Beijing, and the smallest field for the SRO Asia-run series since the end of the 2022 season, when 22 cars participated in that year’s finale at Okayama.

Porsche is the best-represented manufacturer on the grid for the Malaysian curtain-raiser with eight of its 911 GT3 R Evos represented, followed by Ferrari with five examples of the 296 GT3, of which four are listed as being in Evo spec.

BMW and Mercedes-AMG have three cars each, while the grid is rounded off by a pair of Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo IIs and single entries from Lamborghini and Nissan.

Corvette has dropped off the list of manufacturers represented following JMR Johor Racing’s exit from the series as it expands internationally.

Of the 23 cars present at Sepang, ten are entered in Pro-Am, while five feature in Silver-Am and the Silver and Am divisions both have four cars apiece.

Notably, the entry list does not feature reigning champions Leo Ye Hongli and Yuan Bo, who have both elected to step back from the series for personal reasons, with Ye having recently become a father and Yuan focusing on his son’s budding karting career.

Origine Motorsport will therefore field a single Pro-Am Porsche entry, the No. 4 car, to be shared by Lu Wei, last year’s runner-up, and Alessio Picariello at Sepang.

Picariello is expected to also partner Lu for the following two rounds of the series at Mandalika and Shanghai, before Porsche factory driver Laurin Heinrich takes over for the Japanese leg of the series at Fuji and Okayama.

Who will partner Lu for the Beijing finale remains unclear as Picariello and Heinrich both face clashes with Motul Petit Le Mans on the same weekend.

Origine will field a second car in the Am class for Chinese pair Liu Hangcheng and Wang Zhongwei, who switch from Harmony Racing and Absolute Racing respectively.

Elsewhere in the Porsche stable, Anthony Liu and Dorian Boccolacci return for another season aboard the No. 37 Phantom Global Racing car.

Team KRC has settled on BMW factory driver Neil Verhagen to partner Ruan Cunfan in its new Pro-Am car as it expands to a two-car M4 GT3 EVO assault.

Craft-Bamboo Racing’s solo Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo will be shared by the previously-announced Liang Jiatong and Dean Chen for a Silver-Am class assault.

Absolute Corse returns with its Ferrari 296 GT3 to be shared at Sepang by DTM regular Thierry Vermuelen and Indonesian driver Andy Tan.

Akash Nandy will handle driving duties solo aboard the No. 29 Absolute Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, but must exit and re-enter his car during the mandatory pit stop.

Track action begins at Sepang with paid practice on Thursday ahead of official practice and pre-qualifying on Friday.

Qualifying proper is slated for Saturday morning with the opening one-hour race starting at 2:15 p.m. local time (2:15 a.m. EST), before action concludes with the second race on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. (Saturday 11:30 p.m. EST).