Phantom double marks GTWC Asia weekend at Mandalika

GT World Challenge Asia at Mandalika was a special occasion, as local hero Sean Gelael would face the home crowd for the first with a Ferrari 296 GT3 from Garage 75, but Phantom Global Racing spoiled everybody’s party and celebrated in double, with the No. 16 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Kuai Yu and Congfu Cheng winning on Saturday while the No. 37 Porsche 911 GT3R of Anthony Liu and Loek Hartog conquered the Sunday.
 
Sean Gelael appeared for Mandalika as a special guest entry, and despite the No. 50 Garage 75 Ferrari being a single, Gelael had all the advantage he may have wanted with the pole position at the home venue for the first race, even though he was surrounded by Silver Cup entries. Gelael accelerated faster than anyone and remained in the lead, but with the first sector favoring some high speed following, most of the chasers stood behind the Indonesian.
 
The battle between the No. 50 Garage 75 Ferrari and the No. 96 Harmony Ferrari was slowed down for a while, as the No. 10 KRC BMW crashed into the No. 18 PCO Porsche, bringing a full course yellow that turned into a Safety Car and went until near the pit window opening. Gelael stopped first while Deng Yi waited a bit, which brought the No. 16 FAW Phantom Audi to the lead while the No. 15 Phantom Audi was leading the Pro-Am Cup and covering the leader from second overall.
 
With Gelael not improving his pace compared to the Audis ahead, the No. 16 FAW Phantom Audi was brought home with the overall and Silver Cup wins by Kuai Yu, while the No. 15 Phantom Audi won the Pro-Am Cup from second overall.
 
The No. 77 CRAFT Bamboo Mercedes won the Silver-Am Cup from fifth overall, while the No. 22 Origine Porsche got Am Cup honors from way out of the overall top 10.
 
GTWC Asia - Mandalika Race 1 results
 

The No. 15 Phantom Audi was in the front row for Race 2, but it was the polesitter No. 37 Phantom Porsche that led the way from the go signal, all while having the No. 4 Origine Porsche on their backs in a three way battle for overall and Pro-Am Cup honors, while the No. 96 Harmony Ferrari and the No. 13 Harmony Ferrari were leading the Silver Cup and Silver-Am Cup while surrounded by Pro-Am Cup cars, which led to contact and beached the No. 50 Garage 75 Ferrari of Sean Gelael, bringing the Safety Car immediately.
 
The contact in the No. 50 threw the No. 13 out of contention, bringing the No. 25 PCO Porsche to the Silver-Am Cup lead, now out of the way of most of the Pro-Am Cup cars with pro drivers in their stints. Maxime Oosten fought back amid the mid-pack melee to take the class lead for the No. 10 KRC BMW.
 
The second part turned into a Porsche lockout at the front, with the No. 37 Phantom car leading by a fine margin, while the No. 4 Origine one was defending position from the No. 911 and 918 from Absolute Racing. Ruohan Huang pressed Wei Lu so hard it eventually worked, and while Vutthikorn Inthraphuvasak had room for a move, the No. 918 lost balance under braking, nearly used the No. 4 as a launching ramp and spun around. Promoting the No. 15 Phantom Audi to third.
 
Things settled down behind the No. 37 Phantom Porsche, but Anthony Liu confirmed victory for the orange and yellow car. The No. 29 Absolute Lamborghini of Akash Nandy won the Silver Cup, just ahead of the Silver-Am Cup winning No. 77 CRAFT Bamboo Mercedes, while the No. 51 AMAC Porsche got a better Sunday and won in the Am Cup.
 
GTWC Asia - Mandalika Race 2 results
 
Ruohan and Ghiretti (No. 911) still hold the lead with 73 points, 20 above Liu (No. 37) and 33 points ahead of Cheng and Yu (No. 16). The calendar moves to travels between China and Japan now, with Shanghai being the next stop on 5 and 6 June.
 
PHOTOS: SRO