> Fanatec GT Asia: Liu and Picariello lead four crews covered by 11 points
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> Entry lists: Fanatec GT Asia + Japan Cup
Suzuka kicks off Part 2 of the 2024 Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS and Japan Cup campaigns this weekend when 47 cars tackle the latest SRO GT PowerTour event.
32 of them contest races seven and eight of Fanatec GT Asia, while Japan Cup’s fifth and sixth rounds feature 15 cars split between GT3, GT4 and GTC.
Qualifying and the four 60-minute races are live on SRO’s GT World channel this Saturday and Sunday. And there’s also coverage with native commentary across Japan on J Sports.
FANATEC GT ASIA
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What a difference one weekend makes! A fast start to the season saw Lu Wei arrive at Fuji with a 10-point advantage over his nearest rivals. But scroll forward two races and the Origine Motorsport driver now finds himself third overall after scoring just six points last time out.
That contrasts markedly with reigning champion Anthony Liu and Alessio Picariello who vaulted from potential contenders to championship leaders in the space of two days. Their 35-point return at Fuji matched the previous best of any crew over the same weekend this year, and now gives them a slender two-point lead heading into the final six races.
The caveat is, as always, success time. Absolute’s Porsche must serve 15 seconds more during its pitstop on Saturday. However, Liu’s victory there last year – albeit at the wheel of a Mercedes-AMG – means a Race 2 repeat cannot be discounted.
Origine’s two crews must therefore make the most of their opportunity on Saturday. Victory in Fuji’s opener was tempered by early retirement in Race 2, but Bob Yuan and Leo Ye Hongli still have enough points to lie second in the overall standings and remain more than a win’s worth ahead of their nearest Silver-Am rivals: Team 5ZIGEN’s Hirobon and Yu Kanamaru.
Lu, meanwhile, has gone from 10 points ahead to 10 points behind. He’s joined this weekend by Porsche factory driver Laurin Heinrich with whom he shared victory at Sepang on the opening weekend.
There’s still time for other overall title contenders to emerge. But, right now, the list of likely candidates only also includes FAW Audi Sport Asia’s Franky Cheng and Adderly Fong who are a point behind Lu. Indeed, while 11 points separate the top four, there’s now a gap of 22 to the next best entry.
But leading overall doesn’t guarantee a crew will win their class. And that’s currently the case in Silver where Absolute Racing’s Eshan Pieris and Tanart Sathienthirakul are three points ahead of Cheng and Fong.
In Am, Andrew Macpherson and Ben Porter trimmed David Tjiptobiantoro’s championship lead by winning Fuji’s second race. However, AMAC’s Porsche remains 14 points adrift of Garage 75’s Ferrari and two clear of the Spirit of FFF Racing Audi that only features Mineki Okura this weekend. His regular co-driver Hiroshi Hamaguchi has a clashing European Le Mans Series commitment.
Elsewhere, Timo Bernhard partners Sun JingZu in the Phantom Global Porsche that his Team 75 Bernhard operation helps run, and young Anglo-Japanese racer Dougie Bolger has joined Yudai Uchida in VSR’s new-look #63 pairing.
JAPAN CUP
Back-to-back wins helped Daisuke Yamawaki and Shinichi Takagi relieve Shinji Takei of the GT3 championship lead last time out at Fuji. And with Bingo’s Corvette once again featuring an Am driver line-up, there’s every chance K-Tunes’ Ferrari will extend its advantage further this weekend.
The second of those two victories came despite Takagi starting a wet race on slick tyres. For 20 minutes the gamble appeared to have backfired. But the team’s decision was ultimately vindicated when its Pro driver pitted with a greater advantage than the impending success penalty. Yamawaki then completed the task to go 14 points clear in the overall standings.
Solo driver Tadao Uematsu is a little further back. But his focus is primarily the Am class where Team MACCHINA’s McLaren enjoys a 100% record thus far, as well as a handy 31-point lead over Comet Racing’s Yorikatsu Tsujiko and Yusuke Yamasaki.
GT4 garners less attention but its championship battle is shaping up very nicely thanks to three winners in four races.
TGR Indonesia’s Haridarma Manoppo tops the standings at half-distance after claiming two wins. It might have been a third in Sugo’s second race had the team chosen slick tyres instead of wets at the pitstop.
As it is the GR Supra enjoys a seven-point advantage over YZ Racing’s BMW shared by Yuki Fujii and Masaki Kano, while victory after taking the lead on the last lap at Fuji leaves Daiki Fujiwara and Yoshitomo Makino (Sunrise BLVD) tied on the same number of points.
Takeshi Suehiro is also still a contender thanks to a consistent approach thus far.
SUZUKA TIMETABLE
Thursday 4 July
10:00 – 13:00: Japan Cup Official Paid Test
14:30 – 17:30: Fanatec GT Asia Official Paid Test
Friday 5 July
09:45 – 10:45: Japan Cup Official Practice 1
11:00 – 12:00: Fanatec GT Asia Official Practice 1
14:25 – 15:25: Japan Cup Official Practice 2
15:35 – 16:05: Japan Cup Bronze Session
16:20 – 17:20: Fanatec GT Asia Official Practice 2
17:30 – 18:00: Fanatec GT Asia Bronze Session
Saturday 6 July
09:00 – 09:15: Fanatec GT Asia Qualifying 1
09:22 – 09:37: Fanatec GT Asia Qualifying 2
10:20 – 10:35: Japan Cup Qualifying 1
10:42 – 10:57: Japan Cup Qualifying 2
11:15 – 11:45: Pit walk
12:25 – 13:25: Fanatec GT Asia Race 1
14:55 – 15:55: Japan Cup Race 1
Sunday 7 July
11:35 – 12:35: Fanatec GT Asia Race 2
14:10 – 15:10: Japan Cup Race 2
