AAS and CRAFT Bamboo triumph at Suzuka weekend of GTWC Asia

The regular FANATEC GT World Challenge Asia competitors avoided domination from the Japan Cup hopefuls during the Suzuka weekend, with the No. 911 AAS Porsche 992 GT3R getting the win in the final moments of the first race while the No. 37 CRAFT Bamboo Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo was incredibly dominant on Race 2 on Sunday.
 
Home teams were prevailing in the front row of the first race, with the No. 16 ABSSA McLaren leading the field until the No. 47 D`Station Aston Martin spun and created a chain reaction at the Esses, bringing in the Safety Car for the first time, coming back soon as the No. 96 K-Tunes Lexus found the barriers, and due to armco damage at the contact point, the race was red flagged.
 
More 10 minutes of neutralization and the racing was back with little movement across the field, with Keita Sawa keeping the No. 16 on track for as much time as possible, but while dealing with traffic as pit window was on, the No. 500 5ZIGEN Nissan, with things getting worse for ABSSA Racing as a stop and go penalty for minimum pit time infringement fell over them.
 
While Shintaro Kawabata was firm in the lead, in the approaching No. 911 AAS Porsche was Klaus Bachler on a charge, and once the German was able to unsettle the Japanese with six minutes to go, it was an easy pass for the lead to not let it go until the finish line.
 
GTWC Asia Suzuka - Race 1 results
 
The other class winners were quite mingled in between the predominant GT3 Pro-Am Cup field, as the No. 87 R&B Porsche nearly for an overall top-5 while the No. 3 Climax Mercedes dropped hard in the overall table but keeping the GT3 Am Cup win, while the No. 50 YZ Studie BMW was the best GT4.
 

After a troublesome Race 1, Daniel Juncadella guided the No. 37 CRAFT Bamboo Mercedes to the Race 2 lead over Luca Stolz in the No. 88 Triple Eight Mercedes and Maximilian Götz in the No. 85 CRAFT Bamboo Mercedes.
 
After the pro drivers remain on equal pace during the first stint, the No. 4 R&B Porsche found the way past the No. 85 CRAFT Bamboo Mercedes for third, but Lu Wei was too far back to work his way to second, and found himself actually losing the third spot to the No. 2 Climax Mercedes. Further in front, despite the best efforts from Abu Bakar Ibrahim, the No. 88 Triple Eight Mercedes remained around 4 seconds of the winning No. 37 CRAFT Bamboo Mercedes as Anthony Liu was solid in his drive. At the final lap, the No. 4 R&B Porsche was able to reconquer the lost third place and came back to the overall podium.
 
GTWC Asia Suzuka - Race 2 results
 
The No. 27 R&B Porsche was also in the overall top-5 to secure GT3 Silver Cup honors while the No. 51 AMAC Porsche was back to top notch performances with the win in the GT3 Am Cup. The No. 50 YZ Studie BMW was the only car doing a full class sweep by winning again in the GT4 Cup.
 
PHOTOS: SRO