+ Huang and Ghiretti lead top three covered by eight points
+ DTM champion Güven joins title contender Liu
+ Bachler and Trulli also heading to Japan
+ Provisional Okayama entry list
GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS 2026 passes half-distance on August 29/30 when the continental series and SRO’s domestic Japan Cup head to Okayama.
The 13-turn, 3.7-kilometre former Pacific Grand Prix venue is one of Japan’s big four venues alongside Suzuka, Fuji and Motegi, and has hosted GT World Asia every year since 2022. Those eight race victories have been shared between six manufacturers, four of which were winners in the last two years.
In short, Okayama is unpredictable. And that’s no bad thing if you’re one of several crews battling to join this season’s title scrap before the series heads to China for its final two events.
Absolute Racing’s Huang Ruohan and Alessandro Ghiretti have set the championship pace since winning Sepang’s season opener but did suffer their first wobble last time out at Fuji where just 10 points scored across both hour-long races helped Lu Wei and Anthony Liu reduce their arrears to four and eight, respectively.
40 points from a possible 50 particularly supercharged Lu’s title bid, and also saw him become this year’s first multiple winner. Despite serving the maximum success penalty in Race 1, Origine’s Porsche should be in the thick of it once again at Okayama where factory star Laurin Heinrich joins Origine’s #11 911 GT3 R for the second consecutive event.
Dorian Boccolacci’s clashing GT World Europe commitments see Phantom Global’s Liu partnered by another top tier works driver in the shape of reigning DTM champion and Asia debutant Ayhancan Güven. The Turk’s head-to-head with Heinrich and Ghiretti will be a truly mouthwatering prospect.
It might only be mid-season but Okayama could be considered a make or break event for the chasing pack of Audis, BMW, Lamborghini and Ferrari. Indeed, the Absolute, Origine and Phantom Porsches will likely require unusually quiet weekends if the championship battle is to become more than a three-way Stuttgart shootout.
Yu Kuai – an Okayama winner two years ago – and his Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom co-driver Cheng Congfu are currently best of the rest in fourth but 26 points behind Huang/Ghiretti. As a Silver crew, their best chance of bridging that gap will come in Race 1 thanks to Asia’s qualifying format.
Ruan Cun Fan is another 11 points adrift but does have factory support in the shape of Neil Verhagen. Can Team KRC finally end BMW’s long wait for a first GT World Asia victory? It will surely need to if Ruan is to remain an overall title contender come Shanghai.
A non-score last time out has dropped Andres Pato and Jaxon Evans to joint eighth with Akash Nandy. The Malaysian – an Okayama winner in 2024 with Yu Kuai and current Silver class championship leader – drove Absolute’s Lamborghini solo across the first three events but is partnered by Sandy Stuvik next weekend. It will be the Thai’s first appearance since Suzuka 2022.
There’s also Harmony’s Ferrari driven by Liu Kaishun who scored his first win of the season at Fuji alongside David Chen. He’s now a point behind Nandy and Pato/Evans in the overall standings, 13 off Silver class top spot, and 15 behind China Cup leaders Yu and Cheng. Expect this entry to be a threat in Race 1 especially: the same combination took pole at Fuji, while the team and 296 were winners at Okayama 12 months ago.
If you want close then look no further than Silver-Am where seven points covers a top three comprising Liang Jiatong (Craft-Bamboo), Kiyoshi Uchiyama and Tsubasa Kondo (Porsche Center Okazaki), and Brian Lee and Maxime Oosten (Team KRC). The BMW scored maximum points at Fuji to move within striking distance of top spot.
Elsewhere, the fight for Am supremacy appears squarely between Origine’s Liu Hangcheng and Wang Zhongwei, and Climax Racing’s Setiawan Santoso and Zhou Bihuang. 13 points separate the Porsche and Mercedes-AMG.
The class also has a new combination this weekend in the shape of Japanese drivers Cold Max and Yamatatsu, who are joining Garage 75’s Ferrari.
Meanwhile, Absolute’s #918 Porsche returns after missing Fuji, albeit with Kazuki Ota and Klaus Bachler now behind the wheel.
But there’s also another 911, entered by series returnees EBM, for Adrian D’Silva and Enzo Trulli. The latter is the son of Formula 1 race winner Jarno and this year’s Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific Selected Driver – a programme whose alumni include Boccolacci, Alessio Picariello and Ye Yifei.
SRO’s own programme for promising young drivers, the GT Academy, is also hotting up. Indeed, Asia’s race for a fully funded seat at next year’s 24 Hours of Spa is currently the most competitive of the four continents. 5ZIGEN’s Atsushi Miyake leads the way, but just 12 points separate the first five at half distance. Elias Seppanen top scored at Fuji to move up to third behind Yu Kuai, while Maxime Oosten and Liu Kaishun are also firmly in the mix.
Okayama’s track action begins with testing next Thursday before practice and pre-qualifying on Friday. That’s followed by Saturday’s two qualifying sessions and first hour-long race ahead of Sunday’s finale.