The #55 FFF Racing Team by ACM Lamborghini of Eduardo Liberati and Andrea Amici won the 2016 GT Asia Series title after finishing third in the final round of the season in slippery conditions at Shanghai. On a day that was extremely positive for the team, the sister #15 FFF Racing Huracan won the race, after Jeroen Mul and Marco Mapelli drove faultlessly, taking the lead after the pit stops.
“We kept believing that was the key,” said Liberati after the race. “Thanks to Lamborghini, the team and my teammate who kept pushing and smiling all the time. It’s his championship.”
The start of the race though, was chaotic and saw Amici hold the lead from pole after briefly letting his championship rival Anthony Liu in the BBT Ferrari through at Turn 1 before spinning on the entry to Turn 2.
It capped off a tough event for the BBT team, after its 488 retired from the first race, all but ending its hopes of taking the title.
Then by finishing behind the #55 – in fifth – Davide Rizzo and Anthony Liu finished third in the standings, promoting the Phoenix Audi duo of Shaun thong and Marchy Lee to second.
When the race settled down Amici pulled away from the field, ahead of Marchy Lee’s Phoenix Racing Audi, the Absolute Bentley of Jonathan Venter and sister Huracan of Mul.
The race turned into a stalemate as the halfway mark approached, with most drivers biding their time before the stops, braving the wet conditions. But when the round of stops had concluded, there was a shuffle at the top.
The championship-winning FFF crew had a longer compensation time to serve in the pits than those around them. As a result Liberati joined the race third as the #15 Huracan of Mapelli emerged in the lead of the race, with Shaun Thong’s gold Phoenix Audi second.
Thong was unable to challenge the leader, and instead had to shift his focus on keeping a motivated Liberati behind him; the Italian keen to score a 1-2 for the team.
Liberati was all over Thong at the end of the race, and even stole the place off him briefly running down to the back straight, but Thong had the ponies to take the place back before the hairpin and hold it for the final few laps.
Finishing just shy of the podium was the #8 Absolute Bentley of Jonathan Venter and Kieta Sawa, with the BBT Ferrari recovering to fifth following a great defensive drive from Rizzo at the end.
Rizzo did well holding off the hard-charging Anthony Au who took the win in the first race earlier in the day, forcing the second Phoenix Racing Audi to settle for sixth.
