There will be a new face at Craft-Bamboo Racing for the remainder of this season’s Blancpain GT Series Asia campaign after the Hong Kong squad announced Devon Modell will be joining its two-car line-up.
The young British driver moved to Europe’s Blancpain GT Series after finishing second in 2014’s British GT4 standings. A year later he notched up 24 Hours of Spa, Dubai 24 Hour and 24 Hours of Silverstone podiums, and also claimed 2015’s 24 Hour Series SP3 drivers’ title.
Those achievements all came at the wheel of Aston Martins, but Modell is now switching his attention to Craft-Bamboo’s Porsche 911 GT3 Rs.
Prior commitments have ruled one of the VLT-backed #99 entry’s regular drivers, Peter Li Zhi Cong, out of the upcoming Buriram round in Thailand. Modell will therefore take his place alongside Darryl O’Young before switching to the team’s second, #88 machine from Suzuka onwards. His co-driver for the final four rounds will be announced in the coming weeks.
Blancpain GT Series Asia features a six-round format with two one-hour races per weekend, catering for GT3 and GT4 class machinery. Five rounds of the championship remain, with Buriram scheduled for May 20/21 May before the series heads to Japan and China for two rounds each.
Model revealed that watching Sepang’s opening weekend from afar had given him a fresh perspective on the championship.
“I watched the first round of Blancpain GT Series Asia on the TV and was really impressed with the 30-car field and level of competition,” he said. “I had some options in the Blancpain GT Series in Europe - both Sprint Cup and Endurance Cup - but when I weighed it up, I think the Asian Championship is going to go from strength to strength and visits some great tracks; so, I decided to take up a new challenge.”
Craft-Bamboo Racing CEO Richard Coleman added: “I am excited to announce Devon Modell as our new GT3 driver; he has a solid background in European GT racing and has proven himself in a variety of competitive series in both sprint and endurance formats. I have no doubt that he will be the perfect substitute for Peter Li Zhi Cong in the #99 VLT Porsche and that he will be scoring strong results in the #88 Porsche going forward from Suzuka.”