Harmony and Origine take GTWC Asia wins at Fuji

Only one of the serious title contenders made waves during the GT World Challenge Asia weekend at Fuji, with the Race 2 helping the cause of Wei Lu as Laurin Heinrich partnered him in the No. 11 Origine Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3R, while Liu Kaishun and Weian Chen led the sakura-themed No. 96 Harmony Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 to the top spot on Saturday.
 

Multiple cars had decoration changes for the first Japanese round, with the standout being with the No. 911 Absolute Racing Porsche 911 GT3R, as it had a Neon Genesis Evangelion theme based in the signature unit EVA-01 that appeared in different cars with all sorts of squads over the years. It was the first time since 2011 that an EVA-themed Porsche was racing in Japan, although at the time, Direction Racing used the EVA-02 as the theme for their Porsche in Super GT.
 
The cloudy Race 1 started with the No. 16 FAW Audi taking the lead before the first corner, losing it, recovering before the second corner, and then losing it again, but instead of the No. 96 Harmony Ferrari, it was the No. 13 Harmony Ferrari that took the lead in a two for one move halfway into the first lap under green flag.
 
This time, the top four cars were in the Silver Cup, so they couldn’t hide between other classes to protect positions, but Akash Nandy wasn’t getting anywhere near the top three cars with the No. 29 Absolute Lamborghini, but being ahead of the No. 60 LM Corsa Ferrari would expose him to the leaders of the other class to take advantage of him and overtake to use the No. 29 as a shield.
 
While the top four Silver Cup cars commanded the overall order, the No. 500 5ZIGEN Nissan came all the way from the back of the field to pit in sixth place, with Takayuki Aoki choosing to stop earlier than the opposition ahead of him to let Atsushi Miyake complete the job.
 
With pit stops and success penalties out of the way, the No. 96 was in the overall lead with the No. 60 in second and topping the Pro-Am Cup, while the No. 16 was third and the No. 500 rose to fourth overall and a Silver Cup podium. While the No. 11 Origine Porsche took the overall fourth, the No. 500 was still third in the Silver Cup. Behind them, the No. 27 Climax Mercedes slowed and stopped at Turn 1, relinquishing the Silver-Am Cup lead to the No. 10 GTO BMW.
 
With Ryo Ogawa not interfering with Liu Kaishun’s race, the No. 96 Harmony Ferrari just had clear way to win the race, while the No. 60 LM Corsa Ferrari settled for the Pro-Am Cup win in second overall. The No. 10 GTO BMW never lost the Silver-Am Cup lead once it got it, and with the No. 51 AMAC Porsche tumbling down the order, the No. 22 Origine Porsche won the Am Cup.
 
GTWC Asia - Fuji Race 1 results
 

The grid for the second race was very different compared to Saturday, and the No. 89 KRC BMW kept the lead and left the No. 11 Origine Porsche to fight for second with the No. 32 Absolute Porsche, though Tom Sargeant was punted down the table after the second lap, barely keeping the Silver-Am Cup lead as the No. 27 Climax Mercedes was all over it.
 
Unlike Saturday, the Pro-Am Cup cars were topping the order as the professional drivers were doing the heavy lifting, Laurin Heinrich made use of his usual aggressiveness, but the melee with Max Hesse opened the door for a three-wide pass from Brendon Leitch, putting the No. 72 Harmony Ferrari in the lead from third place. The problem was that Heinrich was still in second, and with the German not being afraid of doing a bold move, he quickly took the top spot from Leitch and shut the door to avoid any slipstream assisted overtakes.
 
While the No. 11 kept the lead, Anthony Liu was making moves in the No. 37 Phantom Global Porsche, rising to second, with time to spare to reach Lu Wei, specially as he wasn’t being pressed by Ruan Cun Fan. Despite Liu’s best efforts, the gap didn’t go down and the No. 11 Origine Porsche had a commanding win.
 
The No. 500 5ZIGEN Nissan proved its strength and won the Silver Cup, and Takayuki Aoki could have taken an overall podium spot from the No. 89 KRC BMW, but missed it by 0.004 seconds. The No. 10 GTO BMW completed the Silver-Am Cup sweep with another class win, while the No. 8 Climax Mercedes was dominant in the Am Cup.
 
GTWC Asia - Fuji Race 2 results
 
The duo Huang/Ghiretti (No. 911) holds the series lead with 80 points while Wei Lu (No. 11) has 76 points and Anthony Liu (No. 37) has 72 points. In more than a month, GTWC Asia shares a track with the SRO Japan Cup again, as Okayama hosts the fourth double header on 29 and 30 August.
 
PHOTOS: SRO