World Challenge Asia-C2: Porsche achieves a double at Sepang

Porsche took the lead in qualifying at Sepang for the opening of the Blancpain World Challenge Asia in Malaysia, but had to give in to Mercedes and at Craft-Bamboo Racing yesterday in race 1.

The German brand was, however, able to take its revenge this Sunday with the success of the 911 GT3 R n°911 – Absolute Racing by Tanart Sathienthirakul and Philip Hamprecht. However, it was another Porsche 911 GT3 R, the No. 918 Panther/AAS Motorsport of Alexandre Imperatori, which took off best at the green light, leading the first half of the race.

The first stint went off without a hitch for the Weissach firm with four 911 GT3 Rs in the first four places and only a safety car was deployed following a problem for the No. 8 Audi R3 LMS GT999 – Team TSRT.

Third and fourth on the track, Absolute Racing chose a bold strategy by carrying out its change of drivers on the No. 911 very quickly after the opening of the window. A profitable choice since Sathienthirakul moves up to second place in the hierarchy once the positions have stabilized.

Sathienthirakul finally managed to get the better of Vutthikorn Inthraphuvasak, relaying Imperatori in the 911 – Panther/AAS Motorsport, and won under the checkerboard, taking a Porsche double.

Third place went to the No. 3 Mercedes-AMG GT99 – Craft-Bamboo Racing of Christian Nielsen and Darryl O'Young. The top 5 is completed by the No. 8 Audi R3 LMS GT12 – Audi Sport Asia Team Absolute of Tan – Rump and the No. 3 Mercedes-AMG GT97 – Indigo Racing of Piana – Choi.

Inthraphuvasak and Imperatori, second in the race, also won in Pro-Am, while success in Am Cup went to the No. 8 Audi R3 LMS GT26 – B'Quick Racing of Daniel Bilski and Henk Kiks. BMW Team Studie, with the duo Sunako Jukuchou – Takayuki Kinoshita, signs a second victory in two races in GT4.

Race 2 ranking