> Hartog joins points’ leader for penultimate event
> Three crews in tight battle for second
> Provisional entry list
Champions could be crowned in Beijing’s E-Town this weekend when GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS stages two hour-long sprint races on the streets of China’s capital.
Fittingly, Chinese drivers occupy the top four positions in the standings. But it’s Origine’s Lu Wei – who so agonisingly lost the title on countback at the same circuit last season – who has a chance to make history by becoming the first driver to clinch GT3’s overall title at the penultimate event.
He starts 22 points clear of Huang Ruohan and Alessandro Ghiretti (Absolute Racing) who are tied for second with Anthony Liu (Phantom Global), while Silver class and China Cup leaders Cheng Congfu and Yu Kuai (FAW Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom) sit a point further back in fourth.
Lu, partnered for the first time this weekend by Loek Hartog, also leads Liu in the Pro-Am standings, while GTO with KRC’s Brian Lee and Maxime Oosten are 10 points clear of their nearest Silver-Am rival Liang Jiatong (Craft-Bamboo). The same difference also separates Am leaders Liu Hangcheng and Wang Zhongwei (Origine) from Zhou Bi Huang and Setiawan Santoso (Climax Racing).
SRO GT Academy’s search for GT World Asia’s best young Silver driver also continues. Okayama’s results leave Yu in pole position to win a fully funded seat at next year’s 24 Hours of Spa, although Oosten remains very much in contention 14 points behind.
In the teams’ standings, Origine’s three-year winning streak appears seriously under threat from Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom and Absolute Racing who occupy first and second with four races left to run. However, there’s still time for that to change with a maximum of 172 points available over the final two events.
Elsewhere, China’s domestic GT4 series, SRO GT Cup, is also in town. Four 30-minute races – two more than usual – will be held across Saturday and Sunday to compensate for those originally scheduled to take place at Shanghai. The Greater Bay Area GT Cup race held on Macau’s iconic streets will round out the season as planned in November.
But it’s another city track, albeit one that staged its maiden motorsport event only 12 months ago, that takes centre stage this weekend. The 4.9km, 12-turn Beijing Street Circuit in E-Town was custom built for GT World Asia and remains unchanged ahead of its second appearance on the continental calendar. 5ZIGEN’s Nissan and Harmony’s Ferrari triumphed there last year.
