GTWC Asia title battle intensifies after Okayama weekend

It could have been a weekend to settle matters regarding the GT World Challenge Asia title battle, but with Yuan Bo, Ye Hongli and Jeffri Ibrahim either not being on top or even failing spectacularly to stay on track, the fight for the overall crown got more contenders while the No. 96 Winhere Harmony Ferrari 296 GT3 won the first race and the No. 4 Origine Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3R scored the Race 2 win.
 
Being a rather narrow circuit with a twisty layout and elevation changes, having 30 GT3 cars going at once would invite some contact and a spin or two, and with the No. 55 Harmony Ferrari beached in the Turn 1 gravel trap, the Safety Car was called with urgency while other cars suffered all kinds of minor damage, keeping the No. 96 Harmony Ferrari for a while in the top of the pile.
 
The scenario in the top 5 positions was pretty interesting, with the Silver Cup and Pro-Am Cup leaders in front of the No. 500 5ZIGEN Nissan, which was leading the Silver-Am Cup with ease, but Hirobon’s plans depended of more progress, and with the pace advatange over Anthony Liu, the No. 37 Phantom Global Porsche was dispatched with some brute force from the Nissan GT-R GT3.
 
With the pit window and success penalties served, the No. 96 was isolated in the Silver Cup lead along with the overall top spot, with the No. 37 had the No. 4 Origine Porsche hot on its back wing, while Yu Kanamaru couldn’t hold the No. 500 on top of the Silver-Am Cup as Maxime Oosten chose a rough path to put the No. 89 KRC BMW ahead, eventually going away with the class lead as Kanamaru was busy defending from Yu Kuai and Ye Hongli.
 
Despite having the No. 96 Harmony Ferrari within sight, Anthony Liu had more pressing matters to deal with, allowing Luo Kailuo to go straight to the overall and Silver Cup wins while he defended the Pro-Am Cup win for the No. 37 Phantom Global Porsche until the checkered flag from the approaching No. 4 Origine Porsche. Even though Yu Kanamaru had Maxime Oosten within striking distance, the pace wasn’t enough to turn around the fortunes for the No. 500 5ZIGEN Nissan, so the No. 89 KRC BMW took the Silver-Am Cup win by a narrow margin, while the No. 60 LM Corsa Ferrari controled the Am Cup with certain ease.
 
GTWC Asia - Okayama Race 1 results
 

The main protagonists of the title battle were within the top two rows in the second race, but in a bid to block the No. 66 JMR Corvette, Ye Hongli swerves hard to the left, throwing the Corvette into the No. 33 Vollgas Porsche, with Daan Arrow crashing hard into the barriers as the aftermath. To make matters worse, the No. 99 JMR Corvette appeared behind the No. 87 in the mess, ramming the Porsche and damaging its rear end, while the Corvette sustained suspension damage and got stuck in the garage for repairs, while Origine Motorsport ripped off the damaged part and sent the car back to stay at the back of the queue while the Safety Car was out.
 
With the title contenders out of contention for the race win, the No. 4 Origine Porsche was leading the way, with the No. 37 Phantom Global Porsche and the No. 66 JMR Corvette right behind it and leading a seven car battle for Pro-Am Cup honors while the No. 321 Absolute Porsche was holding the Silver-Am Cup lead in eighth and the No. 96 Harmony Ferrari was the best Silver Cup car in ninth.
 
Wei Lu kept the No. 4 in the lead after the pit window, which was a massive help for his title bid as he would shed a part of the deficit to Ye and Yuan Bo, in special with Anthony Liu going down to sixth. With the other title contenders in separate parts of the top 6, the No. 66’s mission of stealing points from them was partially done, though a full course yellow with 15 minutes to go would help Abubakar Ibrahim’s cause.
 
In the final moments, the No. 4 Origine Porsche had total domination over the field, winning with 14 seconds to the No. 66 JMR Corvette. The No. 37 Phantom Global Porsche still had a late charge, but Anthony Liu stopped on the No. 911 Absolute Porsche, finishing in fourth overall.
 
GTWC Asia - Okayama Race 2 results
 
Unlike the Saturday race, the No. 500 5ZIGEN Nissan had pace to spare to hold the No. 89 KRC BMW and conquer the Silver-Am Cup, while the No. 16 Uno Audi had to decide at the line with the No. 45 FAW Audi the winner of the Silver Cup. The No. 75 Garage 75 Ferrari scored the Am Cup win and was able to figure in the overall top 20.
 
Bo and Ye (No. 87) sustain the lead with 119 points, but they see Lu Wei (No. 4) get closer with 105, which might help Origine Motorsport overall, as any of their cars should be positioned ahead of Jeffri Ibrahim (No. 99) to have success, as the JMR driver sits in third with 104, leaving Liu and Boccolacci (No. 37) as the outsiders with 99 points.
 
The only class that will have open business at the season finale at Beijing will be the Pro-Am Cup, as the other three classes have their title battles almost settled, with class champions posibly appearing after the first race on 18 October, while the second race on 19 October will settle the remaining matters of the 2025 season.
 
PHOTO: SRO