A capacity grid of 33 cars is set to race this weekend at Petronas Sepang International Circuit for this weekend’s opening round of the GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS. The entry list includes customers from eight different manufacturers divided into four classes: 16 Pro-Am entries, eight in Silver-Am, five in Am, and four in Silver. Seven of these entries are also eligible for the China Cup, contested among teams with two drivers from the greater China area including Hong Kong and Macau.
Due to Hiroaki Nagai’s commitments in SUPER GT on the same weekend, Porsche Center Okazaki will only bring one of its two cars – the #25 Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Kiyoshi Uchiyama and Yuta Kamimura, competing for Silver-Am class honours.
The 33rd entry for Sepang is now taken by an additional Pro-Am Ferrari 296 GT3 from Absolute Corse, the #98 of Anderson Tanoto and Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer. This Ferrari will join Absolute Corse’s two full-time Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2s, the Silver-Am #29 of Huang Ruohan/Akash Neil Nandy, and the Pro-Am #19 driven by Loris Spinelli and a Bronze co-driver to be named before the event.
And in total, Absolute Racing will represent three different brands, including its two Pro-Am Porsches – the #321 of Li Xuanyu/Lu Wenlong, and the #911 of Wang Zhongwei and Porsche factory driver Patrick Pilet.
The other ‘TBD’ heading into this weekend’s 60-minute sprints is in the #13 Phantom Global Racing Porsche, after Sun Jingzu was originally announced as Adderly Fong’s co-driver, Sun’s name is not on the entry list. Anthony Liu Xu goes for his second consecutive Pro-Am title after moving from Absolute Racing to Phantom Global in the offseason, where he’ll be joined by new co-driver Dorian Boccolacci in the #37 Porsche.
Meanwhile, 2024 Overall and Silver-Am Cup champions Bob Yuan Bo and Leo Ye Hongli begin their quest for an unprecedented championship repeat in the #87 Origine Motorsport Porsche – only this time, Yuan and Ye will run for Pro-Am honours in what is a loaded category – that also includes teammates Lu Wei and Bastian Buus in the #4 Origine Porsche.
Porsche’s Pro-Am contingent also features GTO Racing Team’s new line-up of Brian Lee and Nico Menzel in the #10 car, and EBM’s #61 driven by Adrian Henry D’Silva and Dylan Pereira.
Other Pro-Am contenders include Mercedes-AMG customers Climax Racing and Craft-Bamboo Racing – each featuring a Mercedes-AMG Performance factory driver: Ralf Aron joins Zhou Bihuang in the #2 Climax Mercedes, Jayden Ojeda joins Cao Qi in the #31 Craft-Bamboo car.
Returning to GT World Challenge Asia from SUPER GT, BMW M Team Studie represents the Bavarian brand in Pro-Am, with the newest #5 M4 GT3 EVO driven by Tomohide Yamaguchi and 2004 Le Mans winner Seiji Ara.
Sepang will see the landmark launch of Corvette Racing’s first Asian Corvette Z06 GT3.R customer programme via local team Johor Motorsport Racing. His Honourable Princes Abu Bakar and Jefri Ibrahim will drive one of two JMR Corvettes: Jefri will drive the #99 alongside Corvette Racing works driver Alexander Sims, while Abu Bakar lines up alongside Jordan Love in the #66.
Finally, Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom has a Pro-Am R8 LMS GT3 EVO II on the grid, the #46 driven by the returning Marcus Winkelhock and co-driver Bao Jinlong, keeping Audi’s flame alight in GT World Challenge Asia.
Climax Racing and Origine Motorsport help round out the rest of a solid Silver-Am contingent – Zhang Yaqi and Ling Kang drive the #44 Climax Mercedes, Li Kerong and Anders Fjordbach arrive in their #86 Origine Porsche.
The Silver-Am field also features Korean team Vollgas Motorsports’ Han Mingwan and Lee Chanjoon (#33 Porsche), Winhere Harmony Racing’s Liu Hangcheng and Lorenzo Patrese (#55 Ferrari), Team KRC’s Tony Ruan Cunfan and Maxime Oosten (#89 BMW) – and the only Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 on the grid, the #500 Team 5Zigen GT-R of Motoki Takami and Yu Kanamaru.
Garage 75’s David Tjiptobiantoro and Christian Colombo headline the five Am entries – the 2024 Am Cup winners are back in their #75 Ferrari, competing against Australia’s AMAC Motorsport, Andrew Macpherson, William Ben Porter, and the only 991.2 generation Porsche in the field. Mercedes-AMG has two Am entries – the #8 EBM car of Setiawan Santoso/Martin Berry, and the #30 Elegant Racing Team car of Liu Lic Ka/Reinhold Renger. They’re joined by the #60 LM corsa Ferrari of Kei Nakanishi/Shigekazu Wakisaka.
Finally, the four-car Silver field features GT World Challenge Asia’s newest full-time team, Uno Racing Team, and the #16 Audi of Rio Ma and Shaun Thong. Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom also has a Silver class representative – the #45 of James Yu Kuai and defending Silver Cup title winner Franky Cheng Congfu.
Former IndyCar prospect Danial Frost is back for the next two rounds, driving the #77 Craft-Bamboo Mercedes-AMG alongside Alex Liang Jiatong – while inaugural SRO China GT Cup race winner Chen Weian will partner Yi Deng in the #96 Winhere Harmony Racing Ferrari.
Images © SRO Motorsports Asia
