> Results: Free Practice + Bronze Test
Jayden Ojeda hit the front on Saturday morning in Beijing by powering his Craft-Bamboo Mercedes-AMG to fastest time of the week in Free Practice.
Bright but chilly conditions greeted teams and drivers on a day now also featuring GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS Pre-Qualifying and Qualifying but no races, both of which have moved to Sunday.
Huang Ruohan, Dorian Boccolacci and then Nico Menzel set the early pace before Phantom’s Boccolacci banged in the week’s fastest time with 15 minutes of the hour-long session remaining. But it was eclipsed soon after by Buus who lapped Origine’s Porsche four hundredths faster.
That looked set to remain fastest of all until Ojeda unleashed a 1m46.039s with less than three minutes remaining.
Buus also improved on his final run to narrow the gap but 0.342s still separated the Mercedes-AMG and Porsche in the final reckoning.
Patrick Pilet moved Absolute’s 911 up the third at Boccolacci’s expense, while the top Silver-Am entry – Yu Kanamaru and 5ZIGEN’s Nissan – completed the overall top five.
The Harmony Ferrari that led last night’s second test was again the fastest Silver class car in 11th, albeit by less than a tenth from the FAW/Phantom Audi that can wrap up the title in tomorrow’s first race.
EBM Mercedes-AMG, meanwhile, finished first of the Am class runners. However, it all other Am drivers were beaten in the subsequent Bronze Test by outright championship leader Bob Yuan whose time would have put him second overall in Free Practice.
That suggests there’s plenty more to come in Pre-Qualifying, which begins at 11:35. Watch it live on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel.