AO beats Miedecke for Suzuka 1000km win

The first appearance of the Ford Mustang GT3 Evo at the famous Suzuka 1000km almost ended with an emphatic win, but what Miedecke Motorsport by MPC didn’t count was that AO Racing by Absolute had Laurin Heinrich carrying over the No. 8 Porsche 911 GT3R Evo to a dominant triumph, with Alessio Picariello and Julien Andlauer doing the rest of the job at the Japanese circuit. In an inspired Sunday from Absolute Racing as they had the No. 7 Porsche in form to fight for the win along with the winning car.
 

The early part of the race had a two car battle for the lead as the No. 64 Miedecke Ford brought the No. 7 Absolute Porsche to escape from the rest of the field, which was led by the No. 45 PONOS Ferrari. The No. 64 stood in the lead until the first pit stop but the roles reversed once the cycle was done, with the No. 7 having a bit of a cushion to the No. 64, though Dennis Olsen fought back and passed Alessandro Ghiretti for the lead again.
 
With a bit more than 90 minutes of racing, the Safety Car bunched up the field and while the No. 64 kept the lead, this was the No. 7’s demise as the No. 2 JMR Corvette took the second place and the No. 8 AO Porsche took the third position by force. Nicky Catsburg’s defense was return in double, with Laurin Heinrich barging in before the 130R and brougt Dorian Boccolacci with him.
 
Heinrich had 40 minutes following Christopher Mies after the fourth pit cycle to find gaps in his line until he finally passed the No. 64 at the Esses. Almost immediately, the No. 64 fell hard in terms of pace, to a point where even the second place was under threat, with the No. 2 and the No. 7 hot on the heels of the Mustang GT3 Evo.
 
Eventually, Fred Vervisch lost contact with Heinrich, to a point where denying the victory of the No. 8 AO Porsche was simply impossible, though the No. 64 Miedecke Ford was safe in second as the No. 7 Absolute Porsche was seven seconds behind and the No. 2 JMR Corvette was 14 seconds behind.
 
Suzuka 1000km - Race results
 

The No. 69 WRT BMW had a late scare with a penalty for contact, but still secured the Bronze Cup. In the Pro-Am Cup, despite the best efforts from the No. 99 JMR Corvette, it was the No. 60 LM Corsa Ferrari that took class honors in incredibly dominant fashion, leading the class with immense advantage for a long time.
 
The IGTC calendar now moves to end the season at Indianapolis, as the circuit will leave the series after the 8 hour race on 10 October.
 
PHOTOS: SRO/Gruppe C