Origine and JMR win in GTWC Asia weekend at Fuji

The first leg of the SRO GT Powertour saw fierce competition within the GT World Challenge Asia field, with the No. 87 Origine Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3R of Yuan Bo and Ye Hongli turning the table on pace alone on Race 1, while the No. 99 JMR Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Jeffri Ibrahim had to push to win the second race, but also counted with a late blunder from the opposition.
 
Race 1 had the No. 96 Harmony Ferrari winning the drag race to the first corner against the No. 45 FAW Audi, exactly when the race was neutralized due to a crash at the back of the field, with a contact sending both the No. 33 Vollgas Porsche and the No. 55 Harmony Ferrari to the barrier, and then back to the track, but not in a state to continue the race.
 
Seven minutes later, the race returned but barely any battles took place at the top of the field, with the No. 96 and the No. 45 well established overall and in the Silver Cup, while the No. 87 Origine Porsche was chasing them and going away with the Pro-Am Cup lead as the No. 66 JMR Corvette and the No. 37 Phantom Global Porsche were stuck in their own battle for the second spot in the class.
 
In general, all contenders did early pit stops, but the No. 37 dropped down the order due to a drive through penalty, while the Silver Cup leaders eventually lost pace to the No. 87, with the Pro-Am Cup 1-2 from Origine Motorsport being split by the Silver Cup 1-2, but Alessio Picariello quickly broke this by overtaking Yu Kuai, only to see the No. 4 being penalized in five seconds due to an off track overtake, although it didn’t impede the Belgian to pass Deng Yi on track to be second overall.
 
Near the end, the No. 96 conceded the Silver Cup lead to the No. 45 FAW Audi due to a slow puncture, while the Silver-Am Cup could see a change in its lead battle as the No. 29 Absolute Lamborghini was penalized too. With no further changes on track, the No. 87 Origine Porsche got the overall and Pro-Am Cup wins, while the No. 45 FAW Audi went to the Silver Cup win without any threats around and the No. 500 5ZIGEN Nissan inherited the Silver-Am Cup win due to the penalty applied to the No. 29 Absolute Lamborghini.
 
GTWC Asia - Fuji Race 1 results
 
The only class winner outside the overall top 10 was found at the back of the order, with the No. 8 EBM Mercedes narrowly beating the No. 75 Garage 75 Ferrari for Am Cup honors.
 

Race 2 had a JMR Corvette front row with slightly better weather, but the No. 66 almost being gobbled by the field while the No. 99 continued in the lead, all while the No. 45 FAW Audi retired in the first lap.
 
While the order remained unchanged during the first stint, the No. 19 Absolute Lamborghini jumped to second and the No. 2 Climax Mercedes became third, with the Silver-Am Cup having a change too, as Yu Kanamaru did well his role and left the No. 500 5ZIGEN Nissan leading the class for Hirobon, who had enough cars between him and the No. 86 Origine Porsche of Kerong Li, at least until the Pro-Am Cup contenders started outpacing Hirobon and a 1 second penalty hit the No. 500, handing the class lead to the No. 86, which was given away to the No. 89 KRC BMW moments later.
 
With nearly 10 minutes to go, a slipstream battle resulted in a crash for the No. 16 Uno Audi and the No. 911 Absolute Porsche, bringing a full course yellow as the track cleaning was underway, with the Safety Car entering seven minutes later.
 
In the end, just one lap under green flag was done after the Safety Car, but in the hurry to chase the No. 99 JMR Corvette, the No. 2 Climax Mercedes and the No. 4 Origine Porsche crashed and spun, and at the Panasonic corner, another tangle involved the No. 66 JMR Corvette and the No. 89 KRC BMW, which handed the Silver-Am Cup win to the No. 86 Origine Porsche.
 
GTWC Asia - Fuji Race 2 results
 
The No. 96 Harmony Ferarri featured in the overall top 10 to win the Silver Cup, barely ahead of the No. 77 CRAFT Bamboo Mercedes, while the No. 75 Garage 75 Ferrari had a better race than on Saturday and conquered the Am Cup.
 
Ye and Yuan (No. 87) now lead the standings with 111 points while Jeffri Ibrahim remains on the run for the title with 104. Next in the calendar is Okayama, with the final double header of the 2025 SRO GT Powertour set for 30 and 31 August.
 
PHOTOS: SRO