Qualifying for this weekend’s GT World Challenge Asia races at Okayama International Circuit has concluded: Race 1 pole position went to the #29 Absolute Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2, while Race 2 will have an all-Audi front row led by the #15 Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom R8 LMS GT3 EVO II.
Qualifying 1 began on a damp track due to overnight rain showers, making things a little tricky for the Bronze and Silver drivers taking part in the session.
Sandy Stuvik, coming out of the English commentary booth and back into a car for the first time in the series since 2022, effortlessly got back up to racing speed. After Cheng Congfu was the first driver to breach the one-minute, 30-second barrier this weekend, Stuvik went even quicker in the final five minutes, taking provisional pole with a 1:29.172s.
The Thai driver then found even more improvements, ultimately landing on a 1:28.982, putting Stuvik and the #29 Absolute Lamborghini up at the top of the timing sheets by over four-tenths of a second.
This makes the #29 car the first repeat pole winner this season, after six different cars took pole position through the first six races – co-driver Akash Nandy won the pole for Race 1 in Sepang.
Cheng in the #16 FAW Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom R8 went second-quickest on a 1:29.408, followed by Chen Weian in the blue and pink #96 Harmony Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo, with a 1:29.582.
Fastest of the Pro-Am cars was the #11 Origine Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R as Lu Wei put the black 911 on the second row, ahead of Takayuki Aoki in the #500 Team 5Zigen Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3.
Anthony Liu was sixth-quickest in the #37 Phantom Global Racing Porsche, Shigekazu Wakisaka was seventh in the #60 LM corsa Ferrari, then Li Lichao (#81 Climax Racing AMG), Tomohide Yamaguchi (#5 BMW M Team Studie M4), and Ruan Cunfan (#89 Team KRC BMW) rounded out the top ten.
The #81 Climax AMG was the quickest in the Silver-Am class, while Liu Hangcheng in the #22 Origine Porsche took the top spot of the Am class cars.
Championship leader Huang Ruohan qualified 14th in the #911 Absolute Racing Porsche, while Adrian D’Silva had a trouble-free run in his #61 EBM Porsche after all the difficulty just getting the car to the circuit – but the Malaysian driver will start 23rd and last later this afternoon.
After driver changes, Qualifying 2 on a drying track was dominated by Phantom’s two Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO IIs. Jaxon Evans in the #15 Audi set the first serious marker with a 1:28.669, with James Yu Kuai in the #16 FAW Audi-backed car matching him step for step.
Team KRC’s two BMWs then took a swing as Maxime Oosten took provisional pole in the blue #10 GTO by KRC M4, ahead of Neil Verhagen in the green #89 KRC BMW.
But then Evans broke the one-minute, 28-second barrier with a 1:27.993, and the Kiwi wouldn’t be displaced from the top spot, as he eventually landed on a 1:27.716 for his first overall pole position of 2026. Yu took second place with a 1:27.967, and no other car went under 1:28.
The two KRC BMWs locked out row two, with Verhagen (1:28.087) eventually leaping Oosten (1:28.186); Oosten’s time was the best in the Silver-Am class.
In fifth place was Laurin Heinrich in the black #11 Origine Porsche, then Brendon Leitch in the #72 Apex Predator Harmony Racing Ferrari in sixth, Atsushi Miyake in the #500 5Zigen Nissan, and Ayhancan Güven in the #37 Phantom Global Porsche are seventh and eighth.
Liu Kaishun in the #96 Harmony Racing Ferrari and Akash Nandy in the #29 Absolute Racing Lamborghini completed the top ten.
Alessandro Ghiretti qualified 13th in the #911 Absolute Racing Porsche, Enzo Trulli managed to put the #61 EBM Porsche 18th on the grid, and Wang Zhonghwei was the fastest of the Am drivers in the #22 Origine Porsche, qualifying 19th.
GT World Challenge Asia Race 1 starts this afternoon from Okayama at 1:00 PM JST (local time).
Images © SRO Motorsports Group
