DSC’s Daily Notebook (18/09/2023)
Title showdown set for Sepang
The 2023 Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Driver’s Championship title battle is going down to the wire this weekend in Malaysia.
Four drivers remain in contention, with just two races remaining, with Anthony Liu, Vutthikorn Inthraphuvasak, Prince Abu Bakar Ibrahim and Lu Wei all contenders.
27 points cover the championship protagonists, while the top two – Liu and Inthraphuvasak – start just one point apart. And with a maximum 50 up for grabs across the two 60-minute races, the destination of this season’s crown remains very much in the balance.
In the other classes, only Silver has been wrapped up so far after Ling Kang and Cao Qi (Phantom Pro Racing) amassed an unassailable 51-point advantage at Okayama.
Pro-Am is not always won by the overall champion, and that might be the case again in 2023 given that Liu and Inthraphuvasak start level on points, while Ibrahim and Lu aren’t out of contention, either.
But Climax Racing’s Hu Yuqi and Bian Hao start as hot favourites to win the Am title thanks to their 33-point lead over two-time reigning class champions Andrew Macpherson and Ben Porter. The Australians must beat their Chinese rivals in Race 1 to have any chance of fully overturning the deficit on Sunday.
Fanatec China Cup is also going down to the wire at Sepang where Sun Jingzu and Franky Cheng start with a 31-point lead over Ling and Cao, while Yuan Bo and Leo Ye Hongli also retain a mathematical chance.
Elsewhere, five entrants can still win the team’s championship. However, with a maximum of 86 points available for twice finishing first and second, the winner is most likely to be one of Absolute Racing, Craft-Bamboo and R&B Racing.
AAI headlines World Challenge Asia entry additions
The new Japan Cup competition within World Challenge Asia concluded last time out at Okayama, so the bulk of Japanese teams won’t travel to this weekend’s finale. However, Sepang’s entry list still features an impressive 30 cars thanks to several returning and new teams, as well as Fanatec GT Asia debutants.
This weekend’s entry is the largest Fanatec GT Asia has assembled outside of Japan since Chang welcomed the same number in May 2019.
It’s partly thanks to the likes of GH-Team AAI’s BMWs making their first appearances since this year’s opening round, EBM adding a second Porsche, B-Quik Absolute Racing fielding a pair of Audis, and D’station deciding to contest Fanatec GT Asia overseas for the first time.
There are some new names to look out for too.
Antares Au and Ash Samadi are both racing solo, albeit for Modena Motorsports and Melbourne Performance Centre respectively, while Chinese team Harmony Racing makes its SRO debut with Am pairing Ruihua Wu and Yanbin Xing. These three entries, amongst others, are not eligible to score points.
Fanatec GT Asia has featured many notable GT drivers this year, and another makes his championship debut in Malaysia where Formula E racer and multiple Macau FIA GT World Cup winner Edoardo Mortara joins Bao Jinlong in Absolute Racing’s second Porsche.
Battle On The Bricks post-race wrap
IMSA’s Battle On The Bricks race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway yesterday produced some thrilling racing. Recap the action with Marshall Pruett and Action Express driver Pipo Derani.
ARX-01 LMP2 for sale
A 2008 Acura ARX-01 ‘B’ LMP2 is now up for sale on Sam Hancock’s website. This example raced in period in the later ‘D’ specification of 2011 but has now been completely rebuilt to the faster and more celebrated ‘B’ spec of 2008 by three-time Le Mans LMP2 victors, Jota Sport, with original parts sourced directly from HPD.
The car, which is now presented in De Ferran Motorsport colours, is race-ready and competed at the 2023 Silverstone Festival, qualifying 2nd overall in Masters Endurance Legends on its historic racing debut.
It is eligible for Masters Endurance Legends, Dubai GP Revival, HSR, Sebring and Daytona classics.
For more information, click HERE >>>
GT Cup YouTube channel down
Keen followers of the UK GT Cup Championship may have noticed that its YouTube page has disappeared from the web. The championship has put out an update confirming that it is working on a solution to get it live again.
https://twitter.com/GTCUP/status/1703684993564758478?s=20
Images courtesy of Sam Hancock & World Challenge Asia
The post DSC’s Daily Notebook (18/09/2023) first appeared on dailysportscar.com.