> Garage 75’s home hero starts Race 1 up front
> Phantom’s Porsche powers to Q2’s fastest time
> Result: Mandalika qualifying
Sean Gelael delighted Indonesian fans by claiming pole position on his GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS debut at Mandalika before Loek Hartog became the second series ‘rookie’ in quick succession to set fastest time.
He shares Sunday’s front row with fellow Phantom driver Jaxon Evans whose Audi lines up alongside the Porsche.
But it’s the performance of Gelael that will make headlines locally, and especially if the Garage 75 Ferrari can convert its grid advantage into victory this afternoon.
Gelael’s first flying lap remained unbeaten until it was scrubbed for a track limits infringement with half of the 15 minutes remaining. But the #50 296 was back on top moments later when Gelael unleashed a quicker 1m28.026s. The fastest time of the weekend up to that point was ultimately 0.5s faster than anyone else in Q1.
Ferraris share Saturday’s front row thanks to Winhere Harmony’s Deng Yi who finished a fraction clear of Absolute Racing’s Lamborghini which, just like Garage 75’s entry, is driven solo this weekend by Akash Nandy. Cheng Congfu completed an all-Silver class top four in FAW/Phantom’s Audi.
Anthony Liu (Phantom) was disappointed to finish fifth despite heading the list of Pro-Am contenders, while championship leader Huang Ruohan (Absolute Racing) improved to sixth after the session was red flagged to recover Porsche Center Okazaki’s beached 911.
AMAC’s Ben Porter was an excellent seventh overall in the leading Am entry, and Indonesian Andres Pato completed the top eight. Best placed Silver-Am contender Dean Chen (Craft-Bamboo Racing) rounded out the first 10 behind Origine’s Lu Wei.
Q2 was initially a battle between Jesse Krohn and Evans who’d topped Friday’s Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying sessions, respectively. Neither, however, could do anything about Hartog who is deputising for Phantom regular Dorian Boccolacci this weekend. The Dutchman’s 1m27.681s was half-a-second quicker than last year’s pole time but just 0.083s under Evans’ best.
Team KRC’s BMW finished less than a tenth further back, while Harmony’s Ferraris are line astern in fourth and fifth. Brendon Leitch starts ahead of the sister car after Liu Kaishun jumped up the order on his final flying lap to deny Gelael another Silver class pole. Less than two tenths covered the top five.
Porsche’s Asia regulars Alessandro Ghiretti and Alessio Picariello share row four after failing to match Hartog’s pace. Both trailed the pole-winning 911 by more than 0.3s seconds.
Silver-Am’s fastest duo, Adderly Fong and Maxime Oosten, round out Race 2’s top 10 starters.
Saturday’s race begins at 13:30 local time (GMT +8). Watch it live on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel and app.