Origine secures 2026 GTWC Asia title at Shanghai

Origine Motorsport’s Lu Wei recovered from a Sunday to forget at Beijing and stood firm in the top of the GT World Challenge Asia table, securing the title in the final weekend of the season at Shanghai by winning the second race with Laurin Heinrich in the No. 11 Porsche 911 GT3R, while Liu Kaishun and Chen Weian took the first race for them in the No. 96 Harmony Racing Ferrari 296 GT3.
 

The direct title contenders were in the fourth row, with Lu Wei having no more room to make mistakes like it was done at Beijing, and after two warm-up laps, the No. 29 Absolute Lamborghini led the field, only for the No. 96 Harmony Ferrari to take the position in the first two corners.
 
The race stood in a status quo during the first stint, with little movement happening through the field. The pit window didn’t change the top of the pile, but the No. 37 Phantom Global Porsche appeared in third as the No. 16 FAW Audi tumbled to sixth, with the No. 11 Origine Porsche appearing in fourth while the No. 911 Absolute Porsche was stuck in seventh.
 
With Akash Nandy not closing on Chen Weian, thing looked set at the top, while the last podium spot was up for grabs as Loek Hartog had Laurin Heinrich in his mirrors, and for Heinrich, any overtake is a blessing to help Lu Wei’s cause, and it took a bit of argy bargy for the No. 11 to go to third, but since Chen allowed another lap as he passed the control line with two seconds to go, the No. 96 Harmony Ferrari cruised to victory while letting the battle break out behind it, with the No. 29 Absolute Lamborghini staying in second and the No. 11 Origine Porsche winning the Pro-Am Cup from third overall.
 
GTWC Asia - Shanghai Race 1 results
 
The No. 77 CRAFT Bamboo Mercedes stood in the overall top 5 and took a crushing victory in the Silver-Am Cup, while the No. 8 Climax Mercedes was the winner in the Am Cup.
 

Having the series lead and the pole position was the ideal scenario for the No. 11 in the final race of the season, but Laurin Heinrich nearly saw everything crumble when Alessio Picariello decided to use the No. 11 as support for the No. 918 Absolute to make the corner, only for it to go wide and lose positions while the No. 11 stood in the lead.
 
The first stint had more changes below the top 5, while the title contenders were in first and third, separated by the No. 81 Climax Mercedes, and with eight seconds to the leader, the No. 911 Absolute Porsche had the odds against it.
 
While eventually Huang Ruohan pushed to close down and pass the No. 81 Climax Mercedes, the second place still wasn’t ideal for the No. 911 Absolute Porsche, and with the gap going well past 10 seconds, there wasn’t much left to do than watch the No. 11 Origine Porsche win the race and the title. The No. 81 Climax Mercedes won the Silver-Am Cup and stood in the overall podium, while the No. 500 5ZIGEN Nissan took Silver Cup honors within the overall top 10, and the No. 20 Absolute Porsche had to overcome a heated battle with the No. 22 Origine Porsche to claim the Am Cup win.
 
GTWC Asia - Shanghai Race 2 results
 
Lu finished the season with 139 points against the 125 of Huang and Ghiretti, while Liu wasn’t in a not so distant third place with 120 points. Between the teams, the situation was pretty different, as Absolute Racing took the title with 208 points, while Audi Sport Team Phantom had 173 and Origine Motorsport had 143 points. Lu Wei also took the Pro-Am Cup title with 182 points, while Huang and Ghiretti had 170 and Anthony Liu had 163.
 
Liu Kaishun’s good form in the overall table was converted in a Silver Cup title, with him scoring 198 points while Phantom’s Cheng Congfu and Yu Kuai had 195. GTO’s Brian Lee and Maxime Oosten were in a tie with Liang Jiatong for the Silver-Am Cup crown as they all had 205 points, but with Lee and Oosten having six class wins over Liang’s four, the title went to the duo of the No. 10 BMW.
 
Zhou Bihuang and Setiawan Santoso took the Am Cup title for Climax Racing, scoring 221 points over the 202 of Origine’s Liu Hangcheng and Wang Zhongwei.
 
Origine Motorsport can be considered legends of the competition as they got their third overall drivers title in a row and the second Pro-Am Cup drivers title in a row with Lu Wei despite their teams title streak being broken this season, as Absolute Racing now trails Origine’s three team titles with two ones.
 
PHOTOS: SRO