> Result: Paid Testing
Championship newcomers Audi Team Hitotsuyama put their local knowledge to good use by leading the first Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS session at Sportsland SUGO earlier today. And what’s more, it was an amateur driver – Motohiro Ogura – who set not one but two times quick enough for top spot.
The final hour of the 90-minute session was reserved for Bronze-graded drivers, but Ogura was in a hurry and set his best of 1m22.105s in the same bright, sunny and warm conditions as the Pros.
Another amateur, Yorikatsu Tsujiko, moved Comet Racing’s Honda up to second overall by lapping 0.3s slower than the R8, while Seiji Ara – who’d briefly set the pace before Ogura – wound up third in BMW Team Studie’s M4.
Championship contender Takeshi Kimura used the Am session to vault CarGuy Racing’s Ferrari up the order to fourth after seeing title rivals Prince Jefri Ibrahim and Nick Foster lose the majority of their running to a serious oil leak. Triple Eight JMR’s #99 Mercedes-AMG, which leads the standings by 30 points, now looks set for an engine change before Official Practice this afternoon.
Yogibo Racing’s Silver Cup class Ferrari could only contest the first 30 minutes but still set the fifth fastest time, while X Works were best placed of the non-Japanese teams in sixth.
Team GMB topped the GT4 class ahead of GTO Racing.