> Origine’s ‘nearly man’ beats Absolute’s Huang and Ghiretti to drivers’ crown
> Further titles for Cheng/Yu, Lee/Oosten, Zhou/Santoso and Absolute
> Yu officially wins Asia’s SRO GT Academy prize drive at Spa
> Race 2 Result
Lu Wei is the 2026 GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS champion after taking a commanding victory – his third of 2026 – alongside Laurin Heinrich in Shanghai’s season finale.
The odds were firmly stacked in favour of Origine’s Porsche pair who started this year’s 12th and final 60-minute race from pole position. Heinrich’s exemplary opening stint resulted in his co-driver emerging 10 seconds clear of the pack, which then grew to 13 by the finish.
Lu had previously ended the season third on two occasions before losing on count back 12 months ago. But Saturday’s podium allied to Huang Ruohan and Alessandro Ghiretti’s seventh place laid the foundations for Lu’s coronation.
His Absolute Racing rivals capped a fine season of their own with second place but could do nothing in either stint to at least create some pressure. Huang’s late pass on Li Lichao pushed the Climax Racing Mercedes-AMG down to third overall, but the car that spent the opening stint second in Elias Seppanen’s hands did at least come away with an excellent Silver-Am win.
That class title went the way of Brian Lee and Maxime Oosten, who retained his crown. Their BMW finished seventh overall – one place ahead of Craft-Bamboo’s Alex Liang Jiatong whose co-driver Melvin Moh came within two seconds of denying GTO/KRC’s duo.
Cheng Congfu and Yu Kuai (FAW Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom) also made it back-to-back Silver titles by overturning their three-point deficit to Liu Kaishun whose slim overall championship chances ended when a slow puncture forced Harmony’s Ferrari to make an unscheduled pitstop.
What’s more, an error-free race confirmed Yu as Asia’s SRO GT Academy winner. He’ll now join fellow Silver-graded drivers Jarrod Waberski (British GT) and Ryan Yardley (GT World America) as well as Australia’s representative in Team Motopark’s Mercedes-AMG at the 24 Hours of Spa next year.
Team 5ZIGEN’s Nissan shared by Takayuki Aoki and Atsushi Miyake bounced back from its Race 1 retirement to claim Silver honours, but it was the battle for Am victory that arguably provided the most entertainment across the hour. HZO Fortis/Absolute’s Aaron Lim and Haziq Oh eventually prevailed to score their maiden class win after the latter scrapped furiously with Liu Hangcheng throughout the second stint. Further back, fourth in class was more than enough for Zhou Bihuang and Setiawan Santoso to make sure of the title.
Elsewhere, Absolute might have lost the drivers’ crown to Origine but it repaid the favour – and ended its rival’s three-year reign – by sealing the teams’ title. Its success was confirmed before the start when Phantom withdrew its #15 Audi.
Lu’s title worth the Weit
Alessio Picariello’s rapid getaway from sixth on the grid briefly threatened to give Origine a nervous afternoon. Heinrich had other ideas, however, and – having slammed the door shut – duly spent the first 30 minutes building a gap back to Seppanen who took advantage of the Turn 1 shenanigans to gain a place from front row starter Akash Nandy.
Mechanical issues aside, Heinrich’s qualifying pace suggested that only an untimely Safety Car period and Origine’s five-second success penalty could possibly prevent Lu from clinching the title. The first scenario never occurred, while the second was more than mitigated by the German who set fastest lap before swapping with Lu.
While the champion elect circulated alone out front, Huang – whose co-driver Ghiretti ran third in the opening stint – set about dislodging Li. The pair were together for much of the second half before an audacious late move at the hairpin caught Climax’s driver unawares. Both survived the side-on contact to finish two seconds apart.
An impressive opening stint from BMW’s young factory driver Tim Tramnitz helped KRC’s BMW climb six places to fourth before the pit window opened. Ruan Cun Fan then set about reducing his arrears but couldn’t quite catch Li before the chequered flag.
Loek Hartog was in the thick of the action throughout before Anthony Liu closed out his and Phantom Global’s season with fifth overall, while debutant Kevin Tse finished sixth in the Absolute 911 he shared with Picariello.
Both of those Porsche pros also played a role in Lu’s title after joining him for half of this year’s races. The other six were contested by Heinrich who remarkably finished fifth overall despite only contesting 50% of Asia’s events.
With the campaign complete, GT World Asia’s champions will be officially crowned at the global SRO Awards in New York on December 12 before attention fully turns to 2027 and the series’ 10th anniversary season. Sepang hosts the championship opener on April 2-4.