Origine gets GTWC Asia after tight battle at Shanghai

Origine Motorsport arrived at the Shanghai International Circuit with the favorite tag in their backs for the FANATEC GT World Challenge Asia title, and although they lived up to this, the ups and downs that happened during the weekend actually threw the No. 4 Porsche 911 GT3R out of contention and gave the prize to the No. 87 Porsche 911 GT3R of Yuan Bo and Hongli Ye, while Anthony Liu was barely denied of his second title in a row.
 

With the start of the first race being held to the last moment, more bad than good was done as the No. 22 Climax Mercedes was spun around as the middle of the grid was compressed in the waiting. In the front of the field, the No. 41 Absolute Audi moved to the lead quick enough before the Safety Car was called as the stopped cars needed rescue, with the No. 13 Phantom Porsche also stopped but with crash damage in the front due to the contact on the No. 22.
 
With green flag waved again, the No. 41 and the No. 77 Harmony Ferrari were opening the gap as they weren`t concerned with the title matters as the Origine Porsches were, although Anthony Liu was making sure to present the rear wing of the No. 1 Absolute Porsche to both the No. 87 and the No. 4, and this exact No. 4 was later a victim of a terrible lunge from the No. 296 Absolute Ferrari, going straight to the garage to assess the damage.
 
With the No. 4 out of contention and certainly losing a lot of the comfortable advantage in the points table, the task for the No. 87 shifted to mark and capitalize as much as possible against the No. 1, but Alessio Picariello made it practically impossible for Hongli Ye as the Belgian jumped to second overall to add to the Pro-Am Cup lead while Ye had a lot of work to beat the No. 77 for the fourth place.
 
The No. 63 VSR Lamborghini in the gravel triggered a full course yellow that neutralized things for a while, leaving only ten minutes for Picariello to act and pass Akash Nandy to take the lead and the extra points in the table, and with three minutes to go, all effort to disrupt the Malaysian paid off as a wide line was the ticket for Picariello to go ahead and win the race with the No. 1 Absolute Porsche, which also won the Pro-Am Cup.
 
The No. 41 Absolute Audi still got Silver Cup honors while the No. 87 Origine Porsche got a comfortable win in the Silver-Am Cup, and completing the winners list was the No. 66 Climax Mercedes as it won the Am Cup and barely missed the overall top-10.
 
GTWC Asia - Shanghai Race 1 results
 

Although the hot Sunday and the partially cloudy weather could point a safe day regarding the weather, the second race was brought forward due to fears that the typhoon that delayed the entry at Shanghai could return and force a delay or a cancellation. The standings also showed a change that threw Origine Motorsport out of their dominant position to become the chasers as Anthony Liu and Alessio Picariello were leading the table.
 
The No. 22 Climax Mercedes that was clattered on Saturday was the polesitter on Sunday, but the action was behind of Ralf Aron as the No. 1 Absolute Porsche jumped to second while both Origine Porsches were boxed within top-5 territory. Daniel Morad was pressing Picariello for quite some time, and the No. 30 Craft Bamboo Mercedes eventually won in the brake challenge to get second place, throwing the No. 1 exactly in the radar of the title contenders.
 
Just like the No. 30, the No. 87 Origine Porsche passed the No. 1 for third while the No. 88 Craft Bamboo Porsche was lurking around and initially bringing the No. 4 Origine Porsche, but Laurin Heinrich fell to seventh and was struggling to sustain this position, losing ground to the No. 2 Phantom Audi a lap later.
 
Pit window done and success penalties applied, the No. 87 had the golden chance right in front as Bo Yuan was faster than Cao Qi and Wang Zhongwei, with the No. 22 offering a little more of a challenge but eventually conceding once the exit speed was higher for Yuan, who then fled with the lead as soon as possible.
 
In the end, no one reached the No. 87 Origine Porsche, which came home first overall and in the Silver-Am Cup, with the No. 22 Climax Mercedes getting the Pro-Am Cup in the final lap while finishing second overall, with the No. 4 Origine Porsche and the No. 1 Absolute Porsche finishing at the end of the Pro-Am Cup top-5 while being barely in the overall top-5. The No. 77 Harmony Ferrari got Silver Cup honors with ease while the No. 66 Climax Mercedes completed the Am Cup sweep.
 
GTWC Asia - Shanghai Race 2 results
 
Yuan Bo and Hongli Ye (No. 87) secured the GTWC Asia title with 138 points despite being outsiders on Saturday, with Anthony Liu and Alessio Picariello (No. 1) ending in second with 131 points and Lu Wei (No. 4) being third with 127 points. Origine Motorsport also conquered the overall teams title over the same Absolute Racing.
 
Ye and Bo also conquered the Silver-Am Cup title with large advantage over Yu Kanamaru and Hirobon from 5ZIGEN Racing. As a consolation for Anthony Liu and Alessio Picariello, they conquered the Pro-Am Cup title over Origine’s Lu Wei.
 
Cheng Congfu and Adderly Fong took the Silver Cup title for Audi Sport FAW over Absolute Racing’s Eshan Pieris and Tanart Sathienthirakul, while Garage 75’s David Tjiptobiantoro secured the Am Cup title.
 
PHOTOS: SRO