> Absolute Lamborghini and Origine Porsche top qualifying
> Results: Shanghai Qualifying
Akash Nandy and Laurin Heinrich have each secured a pole position for the GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS season finale at Shanghai.
Absolute’s Lamborghini looked particularly impressive en route to Race 1 top spot and second place in Q2 where Heinrich set the fastest-ever GT3 lap for any series around China’s grand prix circuit.
His 1m58.860s left Origine’s Porsche 0.3s clear of Nandy who first Saturday’s front row with overall contender Liu Kaishun (Harmony Racing).
Nandy and Heinrich split Friday’s fastest times between them and were again the drivers to beat across both 15-minute qualifying sessions.
The Malaysian set Q1’s early pace before Liu nipped ahead, but the Nandy reasserted his authority next time around by recording a 1m59.833s to beat the Ferrari by 0.158s.
However, his seven second pitstop handicap for racing solo could play perfectly into Liu’s hands. The Fuji and Beijing winner is one of five mathematical title contenders but must score significantly this afternoon to remain a potential threat on Sunday.
Craft-Bamboo’s Melvin Moh marked his first appearance since 2019 with third overall and Silver-Am pole from class rival Li LiChao (Climax). However, a three-place grid drop moves Craft-Bamboo’s Mercedes-AMG back to sixth behind Li, Cheng Congfu (FAW Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom) and Anthony Liu (Phantom Global).
Seventh and eighth went to the championship’s top two drivers, with Huang Ruohan – who trails by five points – starting ahead of Lu Wei.
Zhou Bihuang (Climax) is also chasing a title this weekend. And he made the perfect start by taking Am class pole in ninth overall. His nearest rival, Liu Hangcheng (Origine), lines up alongside the Mercedes-AMG.
No driver has ever bagged two poles on the same weekend. That almost changed in Q2 thanks to Nandy who led Heinrich after the first runs.
But it was the German’s mistake at the final corner that undoubtedly contributed towards his 0.02s deficit, and so it was no surprise when the Porsche ace reeled off a faster lap next time around. Seven tenths up in the middle sector ultimately become 0.3s at the line, but that was still sufficient to give his championship-leading co-driver Liu the ideal starting position on Sunday.
Elias Seppanen underlined the pace of Climax’s Mercedes-AMG by qualifying third, while Yu Kuai, Alessandro Ghiretti and Alessio Picariello completed the top six for FAW/Phantom and Absolute respectively.
Race 1 begins at 12:50 local time. Watch it live on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel.