- Nando
- Jun 11, 2025
- 10 min read
GT World Challenge Asia - Round 2 - Double delight in Mandalika as Origine Motorsport and Team KRC sweep the weekend!
While the winning Origine Motorsport and Team KRC teams celebrate back-to-back victories in the searing Indonesian heat, race two ended in heartbreak for the Team 5ZIGEN Nissan after a promising run unravelled late.
QUALIFYING
Q1
The first of the two fifteen minute sessions got underway in damp conditions after rain fell at the Mandalika circuit overnight. The red flag was deployed with eight and a half minutes left on the clock after the #91 EBM Porsche 911 GT3 R of Adrian D'Silva was stuck in the gravel trap. The session was resumed after the short interruption, with everyone immediately exiting the pits to put a time on the board. Frankie Cheng in the #45 FAW Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom Audi was the first man to lay down a representative time as he went fastest with a 1:29.148, while the reigning champion Bo Yuan in the #87 Origine Motorsport Porsche went up to second position with a 1:30.035, before his time was bettered by Anthony Liu in the #37 Phantom Global Racing Porsche, seeing him slot in front of Yuan with a 1:29.519. After looking comfortable for most of the session, Cheng’s provisional pole position was under threat by Danial Frost in the #77 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes as he climbed up to second position with a time that was under a tenth behind. Cheng responded immediately as he set the fastest sector one on his next flying lap, but drama came out in the middle sector as he lost the rear of his Audi R8 LMS Evo II and spun at turn thirteen. Cheng managed to continue but could not further improve with heavily flat spotted tyres. Meanwhile, Frost set a purple sector one and was on course to challenge Cheng’s pole time but bad news would come to the Malaysian driver’s way. A second red flag was deployed, this time for the #46 Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom Audi of Bao Jinlong, who found himself stuck in the gravel trap at turn twelve. The session would not be restarted which meant the misfortune of the #46 Audi handed the sister car of Frankie Cheng pole position for race one.
Q2
Lorenzo Patrese in the #55 Winhere Harmony Racing Ferrari laid down the top time early on with Maxime Oosten in the #89 Team KRC BMW in second. Jayden Ojeda in the #31 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes lowered the benchmark time soon after with a 1:28.145. Fresh from securing a pole position in GT World Challenge Europe, Thierry Vermeulen continued to impress with his single lap pace, putting the #98 Absolute Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 up to fourth position. Another surprise of the session was Yu Kanamaru as he set a 1:28.445 to move the #500 Team 5ZIGEN Nissan up the third position. Jordan Love in the #66 Johor Motorsports Racing Corvette joined the Japanese driver on the second row momentarily but his lap time was deleted due to track limits. Ultimately, pole position for race two went the way of Mercedes works driver Jayden Ojeda with Lorenzo Patrese alongside him on the front row.
RACE 1
Race one got underway with a strong start by pole sitter Frankie Cheng in the #45 FAW Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom Audi with Danial Frost in the #77 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes just hanging on to second position in front of the #37 Phantom Global Racing of Anthony Liu. Liu lost his third position later on the opening lap to the #96 Winhere Harmony Racing Ferrari of Weian Chen. A disappointing home race for Setiawan Santoso saw component failures forcing the #8 EBM Mercedes to retire after the opening lap. More drama in the early stages of the race saw the #44 Climax Racing Mercedes of Yaqi Zhang go off-track at turn seven and subsequently suffered a heavy impact into the tyre barriers which caused a Full Course Yellow and eventually turned into a Safety Car period.
Racing resumed with thirty-eight minutes left on the clock, and Bo Yuan had a great restart in the #87 Origine Motorsport Porsche as he pulled off a superb move around the outside of turn one to overtake Anthony Liu for the lead of the Pro-Am class. Meanwhile further down the order, battle for twelfth place between Xuanyu Li in the #321 Absolute Racing Porsche and Qi Cao in the #31 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes saw the latter dive up the inside of Li into the braking zone of turn sixteen and completed a brilliant overtake. Drama kept on coming as the #55 Winhere Harmony Racing Ferrari of Hangcheng Liu spun which caused another full course yellow period. The pit window opened in the meantime therefore everyone dived into the pits under full course yellow.
After the pit stops, the #87 Origine Porsche of Leo Ye emerged as the race leader with Jiatong Liang in the #77 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes and Ralf Aron in the #2 Climax Racing Mercedes behind. The biggest loser of the pit window was the #45 FAW Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom Audi of James Yu, who went from leading the race, all the way down to eighth place due to eight seconds of Silver class compensation time, and a further five seconds of success penalties.
Green flag racing resumed with just more than twenty minutes left in the race. Leo Ye had a great restart and built a comfortable margin over Jiatong Liang in second. Meanwhile, the sister #4 Origine Motorsport Porsche of Alessio Picariello made quick progress up the field as the Belgian overtook Akash Nandy in the #29 Absolute Corse Lamborghini into turn one. Seeing Leo Ye disappear off into the distance, Ralf Aron was desperate to overtake Jiatong Liang as the Estonian dived down the inside of turn thirteen which sent Liang off the racing line, while Dorian Boccolacci in the #37 Absolute Racing Porsche capitalised to overtake the struggling Mercedes as well. Liang’s poor exit out of turn thirteen also allowed Yi Deng in the #96 Winhere Harmony Racing Ferrari and Alessio Picariello to draw alongside the Mercedes through turn fourteen, but a sudden swerve to the right by Deng caused initial contact with Liang, and a secondary contact was made by the Mercedes on Picariello’s Porsche which sent the Porsche factory driver off onto the grass. Picariello somehow kept control of his Porsche and safely rejoined the circuit without losing any positions, but he was fired up and determined to fight back, and overtook both Liang and Deng in the next couple of laps.
Another man that was moving up the order was Maxime Oosten in the #89 Team KRC BMW as the Dutchman overtook Markus Winkelhock into turn twelve. Harry King in the #911 Absolute Racing Porsche attempted to follow the BMW through but went wide at turn thirteen and rejoined the track in front of Winkelhock’s Audi. Oosten continued to charge up the grid as the Dutchman blasted pass James Yu down the pit straight and then overtook the #29 Absolute Corse Lamborghini of Akash Nandy for the lead of the Silver-Am class a lap later. Nandy’s race took a turn for the worse soon after as Harry King in the #911 Absolute Racing Porsche tagged the Lamborghini into turn one therefore causing Nandy to spin and lose several positions in the process.
At the front of the field, a dominant display by Leo Ye in the #87 Origine Motorsport Porsche saw him take both overall and Pro-Am victory alongside his teammate Bo Yuan. Ye was five seconds clear of Ralf Aron in the #2 Climax Racing Mercedes and Dorian Boccolacci in the #37 Absolute Racing Porsche who rounded out the podium. Silver class honours went the way of the #96 Winhere Harmony Racing Ferrari of Yi Deng and Weian Chen as they finished a strong fifth overall. After starting from twenty-first on the grid, a brilliant recovery drive by Cunfan Ruan and Maxine Oosten brought the #89 Team KRC BMW home in sixth position overall and crucially first place in the Silver-Am Class. The Elegant Racing Team were victorious for the first time in GT World Challenge Asia with Reinhold Renger and Lic Ka Kiu taking victory in the Am Class.
RACE 1 PODIUMS IN EACH CLASS
RACE 2
Jayden Ojeda in the #31 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo kicked off race two from pole position and successfully maintained the race lead despite briefly challenged by Yu Kanamaru in the #500 Team 5ZIGEN Nissan. A great start by series debutant Thierry Vermeulen in the #98 Absolute Corse Ferrari saw the Dutchman move up to third position after starting from fifth on the grid but was re-overtaken by Dorian Boccolacci in the #37 Absolute Racing Porsche at the end of the opening lap with a clean move around the outside at the final corner. However, not everyone made it through the final corner cleanly as Markus Winkelhock in the #46 Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom Audi spun then was subsequently collected by Anders Fjordbach in the #87 Origine Motorsport Porsche which resulted in both cars suffering heavy damage and stranded on the exit of the final turn.
The safety car was deployed due to the two stranded cars as disappointment for the front-row starting #55 Winhere Harmony Racing Ferrari of Lorenzo Patrese saw the Italian pit at the end of the opening lap due to dislodged bonnet. The safety car returned to the pits with three quarters of the race left to go, and it did not take long for Ojeda to build a commanding lead as Vermeulen continued to drop back after being overtaken by Alessio Picariello and Ben Green in the #4 Origine Motorsport Porsche and the #99 Johor Motorsports Racing Corvette respectively.
The pit window opened with the #45 FAW Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom Audi being the first car to dive in as James Yu handed the Audi to race one pole sitter Frankie Cheng for the remainder of the race. Majority of the Pro-Am and Silver-Am Class cars waited until the last possible opportunity to pit with Qi Cao taking over the race leading #31 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes from teammate Jayden Ojeda. The biggest winner of the pit cycle was the #89 Team KRC BMW which leapfrogged the #19 Absolute Corse Lamborghini in the pits and then further boosted on the out lap by Cunfan Ruan’s overtake on Prince Jefri Ibrahim in the #99 Johor Motorsports Racing Corvette which promoted the BMW to fourth position.
Drama in the midpack saw contact between Brian Lee in the #10 GTO Racing Team Porsche and Frankie Cheng in the #45 FAW Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom Audi. Both of the cars were briefly facing the wrong way but managed to continue without further issues. Disaster struck for the race-leading #31 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes as they received a one second stop and go penalty for a short pit stop which shuffled the Mercedes down to tenth and promoted the #500 Team 5ZIGEN Nissan of Motoki to the race lead. Meanwhile in the AM Class, the #30 Elegant Racing Team Mercedes was on course to take their second victory of the weekend but a spin from Lic Ka Kiu late on in the race caused the Mercedes to be stuck in the gravel trap which brought out the full course yellow.
The full course yellow eventually turned into a safety car with Motoki leading the restart. However, he was immediately overtaken by the two rapid Porsches of Wei Lu and Anthony Liu in turn one. Motoki continued to struggle and was under immense pressure for the lead of the Silver-AM Class from Cunfan Ruan in the #89 Team KRC BMW. Disaster would strike the Nissan on the final lap as Weian Chen in the #96 Winhere Harmony Racing Ferrari tagged the back of Motoki into turn sixteen in an attempt to overtake the Team KRC BMW which spun the Nissan, seeing Motoki ultimately finish in seventeenth position overall.
Lu in the #4 Origine Motorsport Porsche held on to the advantage and took victory along with teammate Alessio Picariello. Another podium for Liu in the #37 Absolute Racing Porsche as he finished second alongside Dorian Boccolacci, while Daniel Frost in the #77 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes crossed the line in third place and took Silver Class victory alongside Jiatong Liang after benefiting from the last lap drama. Fourth position went the way of the #89 Team KRC BMW of Cunfan Ruan and Maxime Oosten as they continued their Silver-AM Class winning streak. In the AM Class, a home win for Setiawan Santoso in the #8 EBM Mercedes which he shared with teammate Andrew Bentley.
RACE 2 PODIUMS IN EACH CLASS
PRO-AM: #4 - Origine Motorsport, Porsche 992 GT3 R - Wei Lu & Alessio Picariello
SILVER: #77 - Craft-Bamboo Racing, Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo - Danial Frost & Jiatong Liang
SILVER-AM: #89 - Team KRC, BMW M4 GT3 Evo - Maxime Oosten & CunFan Ruan
AM: #8 - EBM, Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo - Andrew Bentley & Setiawan Santoso
ANTICIPATION FOR BURIRAM
Round three of the GT World Challenge Asia heads to the Buriram International Circuit in Thailand for the first time on May 30th - June 1st. Defending champion #87 Origine Motorsport Porsche leads both the Overall and Pro-AM Cup standings with the #37 Absolute Racing Porsche fourteen points behind after taking two podiums. The Silver Class championship is wide open after poor results for the double Sepang race winning #45 FAW Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom Audi. However, they still lead the championship, four points ahead of the race one winning #96 Winhere Harmony Racing Ferrari. The Silver-AM Class is all about the #89 Team KRC BMW as they won all four races so far this season. Their closes challenger is the #29 Absolute Corse Lamborghini which is thirty-six points behind. The margin between the top two in AM class remains close with the #75 Garage 75 Ferrari three points ahead of William Ben Porter in the #51 AMAC Motorsport Porsche despite none of them taking a win at Mandalika.
Images © SRO Motorsports Group
Comments