Absolute and VSR win GTWC Asia races at Okayama

Mixed conditions were presented to the FANATEC GT World Challenge Asia competitors at Okayama to end the Japanese leg of the series, with the No. 41 Audi Sport Team Absolute Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of James Yu and Akash Nandy winning the dry Race 1 while the No. 6 VSR Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 of Bian Ye and Edoardo Liberati beating the rain to be at the top in Race 2.
 
Race 1 had an all Audi front row, and despite some cars making a wider line through Turn 1 into the gravel trap, it was a safe start for everyone. Origine Motorsport took advantage of having two cars in the top 5 to pester Hirobon in the No. 500 5ZIGEN Nissan, and the pressure worked as he had an off track excursion with 5 minutes of racing.
 
With P3 and P4 for the Nos. 4 and 87 Origine Porsches and the Pro-Am Cup and Silver-Am Cupe first place, there would be no need to push to close down on the overall leaders, so they protected each other from the No. 40 Absolute Audi until the pit window.
 
The window threw the No. 4 down the order while the No. 40 became the new Pro-Am Cup leader, which would be good if the direct competition wasn't right behind, with the No. 888 Triple Eight Mercedes leading the queue. The No. 87 gained pace to fight for overall victory, and Hongli Ye didn't take time to dispatch Adderly Fong for second place, proceeding to chase down Akash Nandy.
 
The No. 8 EBM Aston Martin stopping in the gravel held Nandy, so Ye would have a chance to attack once the green flag was waved again, but it actually backfired as Markus Winkelhock wanted to pass to use the No. 87 as a shield from the Pro-Am Cup competition behind him, but the order didn't change as the No. 41 Absolute Audi won overall and in the Silver Cup, the No. 87 Origine Porsche won the Silver-Am Cup and the No. 40 Absolute Audi won the Pro-Am Cup, while the Am Cup winning No. 75 Garage 75 Ferrari appeared only in the 20th position overall.
 
GTWC Asia - Okayama Race 1 results
 

The second race had a worrying sight in the horizon as dark clouds were accumulating around the circuit, and with rain falling right at the start on Turn 1, lots of cars spun around due to contact or lack of grip, which promoted the No. 6 VSR Lamborghini to the overall lead while the No. 4 Origine Porsche was passed by the No. 13 Phantom Porsche, only for Bastian Buus to get it back from Dorian Boccolacci and the situation reverts again.
 
Edoardo Liberati chose to bring the No. 6 to pit for rain tires unlike some of the competition near him, with the rest of the field coming a lap later. and despite Hideto Yasuoka being the rebel with slicks in the No. 14 GTO Porsche, the No. 6 retook the lead due to the advantage of the rain tires, although the No. 14 still hanged around to claim the Silver-Am Cup lead until near the pit window, when the No. 44 Vollgas Porsche overtook forbthe class lead.
 
The pit window didn't do much to change the order, but Bian Ye was at risk as the No. 6 had Jeffri Ibrahim in the No. 888 Triple Eight Mercedes right at the back wing, but as time passed and Ibrahim wasn’t getting the room to move, the dust settled in favor of the No. 6 VSR Lamborghini, and when the rain eased a bit, it was too late for the chasers as the winning car was too far ahead.
 
GTWC Asia - Okayama Race 2 results
 
The No. 36 FAW Audi won the Silver Cup while the No. 44 Vollgas Porsche kept the top spot in the Silver-Am Cup firmly with them. The Am Cup was entirely as the back of the field, with the No. 66 Climax Mercedes leading an 1-2 finish with the No. 52 Mercedes.
 
Lu Wei (No. 4) keeps the lead with 117 points while Yuan Bo and Hongli Ye (No. 87) have 101, and Anthony Liu and Alessio Picariello (No. 1) have 98, and these will be the title contenders at the season finale at Shanghai on 14 and 15 September.
 
PHOTOS: SRO