Harmony and Absolute command GTWC Asia at Beijing

Street circuit races are rare events in GT World Challenge, with GT World Challenge Asia having one of the few rounds of the global calendar currently, and while Beijing’s E-Town circuit offers plenty of room to race,  the many contacts that neutralized both races made them very difficult to make progress, favoring those who were consistently in front, which were the No. 96 Harmony Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Kaishun Liu and Takuro Shinohara and the No. 911 Absolute Racing Porsche 911 GT3R Evo of Ruohan Huang and Alessandro Ghiretti.
 
The No. 96 Harmony Ferrari had the pole for the first race, and while sparks and debris flew after the first corner, it didn’t reach Liu Kaishun, and the No. 16 FAW Audi looked more set to defend the second position than to attack the top spot.
 
Among a bunch of contact that brought back to back yellow flag periods, the No. 11 Origine Porsche was one of those with bent parts as Lu Wei spun in a clumsy manner after the cold tires passed over a kerb, hitting the wall with the front of the Porsche. With three incidents appearing in separate places, it took nearly 20 minutes to clean the mess and release the field, and while the No. 96 and the No. 16 kept their positions, the No. 500 5ZIGEN Nissan jumped to third as it overcame the No. 29 Absolute Lamborghini in a brake challenge.
 
Atsushi Miyake would gain another position for the No. 500 with 15 minutes to go, with the No. 16 being penalized with a drive through because it exceeded speed under yellow flags, but the Nissan’s progress stopped there, because even though Miyake remained close, it wasn’t able to overtake the winning No. 96 Harmony Ferrari.
 
GTWC Asia - Beijing Race 1 results
 
The No. 37 Phantom Porsche won a fierce battle with the No. 911 Absolute Porsche for Pro-Am Cup honors, mostly thanks to Ayhançan Güven’s push. The No. 77 CRAFT Bamboo Mercedes also had to survive a close battle with the No. 81 Climax Mercedes for Silver-Am Cup honors, while the No. 8 Climax Mercedes survived through the race to carry the Am Cup on track, as three of the four cars of the class fell victim of some sort of incident.
 

The second race had a full Porsche front row, but only the No. 911 Absolute Porsche remained in front, but somehow not only Alessandro Ghiretti lost the lead to the No. 72 Harmony Ferrari, but a sequence of cars bullying each other out of the way ended badly for the No. 500 5ZIGEN Nissan, which was sent to the wall, which made the Safety Car a necessity.
 
After the pit window, JJ Song had to work really hard to keep the No. 72 in the lead, and although a lifeline was given due to the Safety Car, the position loss to the No. 911 was immediate after the green was waved again. While the No. 911 had plenty of cushion, there was a battle for second that went in favor of the No. 16 FAW Audi, but even having 10 minutes at disposal wasn’t enough for Congfu Cheng to outpace Ruohan Huang, so the No. 911 Absolute Porsche had clear way to victory, while the No. 16 FAW Audi settled for the Silver Cup win from second place overall.
 
GTWC Asia - Beijing Race 2 results
 
After having an incident filled Race 1, the No. 51 AMAC Porsche won the Am Cup departing from last, while the No. 10 GTO KRC BMW was class of the Silver-Am Cup field, although most of the class was at the back of the field.
 
Wei Lu (No. 11) keeps the lead with 121 points, but Huang and Ghiretti (No. 911) trail him with 119, while Cheng and Yu (No. 16) keep the overall title hopes alive with 101 points as the series moves to its final weekend at Shanghai, set for 30 October and 1 November.
 
PHOTOS: SRO