The years pass by but some things don’t change, like the fact that the Porsche 911 GT3R is always a contender in GT World Challenge Asia, proved by the fact that the two victories at Sepang came with the No. 911 entry from Absolute Racing and the traditional No. 4 entry from Origine Motorsport.
The first things to attract attention were the fact that the field had way less cars compared to 2025, with 23 cars aligning this weekend, but also the absence of the local team and GTWC Asia title contender Johor Motorsport Racing, as their Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs will focus on the Intercontinental GT Challenge, apart from the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, but Akash Nandy represented Malaysia as the solo driver of the No. 29 Absolute Lamborghini.
The Silver Cup cars commanded the first moments of Race 1, with the No. 29 Absolute Lamborghini leading the No. 16 Phantom Audi, while the third placed No. 911 Absolute Porsche was leading the Pro-Am Cup from third overall, covering the top 2 from the No. 500 5ZIGEN Nissan.
Things stood in a status quo, and while the pit stop ruling acted to change the order, it was minimal as the No. 911 Absolute Porsche jumped ahead of all Silver Cup entries. With the No. 911 protecting the Pro-Am Cup lead thanks to the trio of Silver Cup car behind it, Alessandro Ghiretti just had to keep a steady pace to avoid getting swallowed by the Silver Cup melee.
Further down, but still in the overall top 10, the No. 22 Origine Porsche that was dominating the Am Cup got caught abusing of track limits, being penalized with a drive through. The penalty didn’t hurt the class lead, but it did massive damage in the overall placement, going down to eighteenth to appear in the striking zone of the No. 75 Garage 75 Ferrari.
The remainder of the race presented the same situation from the end of the pit window, with no car threatening the overall and class leads of the No. 911 Absolute Porsche, with Ghiretti just having to bring the car home.
The No. 29 Absolute Lamborghini had the No. 16 Phantom Audi on its tail for the whole race, but the Silver Cup results didn’t change, with both cars completing the overall podium. The No. 25 PCO Porsche remained in the overall top 10 while conquering the Silver-Am Cup, and in the Am Cup, while the penalized No. 22 Origine Porsche tumbled down the order, it was just enough to keep the class win by mere 2.1 seconds.
GTWC Asia - Sepang Race 1 results
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There was a trio of Porsches in front of the No. 500 5ZIGEN Nissan at the second race start, with the No. 918 Absolute Porsche being the polesitter but the No. 4 Origine Porsche in second being the major contender. Atsushi Miyake was having none of it and timed it right to nearly capture the second place, but being boxed by the No. 4 sent Miyake back to third while the No. 911 Absolute Porsche took second place, with the No. 918 dropping hard to sixth in just a few corners.
Eventually, Miyake lost contact with Alessio Picariello and Alessandro Ghiretti, becoming prey for Dorian Boccolacci and all those following the No. 37 Phantom Porsche. The pit window didn’t change the lead, with the No. 4 being held there firmly by Wei Lu, but Anthony Liu was left in second with the No. 37 while the No. 89 KRC BMW appeared in third to try to spoil the Porsche party since the No. 500 dropped to fifth while still holding the Silver Cup lead, with the No. 10 GTO KRC BMW was leading the Silver-Am Cup from sixth overall.
The No. 500 got further away from the overall lead battle once the No. 918 got past the No. 10 and Vutthikorn Inthraphuvasak decided to challenge Takayuki Aoki, but in the second challenge from the outside, Aoki sturdied his defense but got pit maneuvered in the process, losing not only the fifth place overall but also the Silver Cup lead to the No. 96 Harmony Ferrari.
The remainder of the race saw no changes as the gaps were consolidated, with the No. 4 Origine Porsche winning it overall and in the Pro-Am Cup while the No. 37 Phantom Porsche had a close second. The No. 10 GTO KRC BMW won the Silver-Am Cup from the overall top 5 in an impressive performance that got its great deal of luck.
The No. 96 Harmony Ferrari won the Silver Cup after piling on 5ZIGEN’s misery, while the No. 8 Climax Mercedes had a dominant race straight to the Am Cup win.
GTWC Asia - Sepang Race 2 results
The duo Ruohan/Ghiretti (No. 911) leads the standings with 40 points against the 33 of Picariello/Wu (No. 4) and the 28 of Liu/Boccolacci (No. 37).
The series now turns attentions to Indonesia, with the second weekend set for the Mandalika Circuit on 2 and 3 May.
PHOTOS: SRO
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