By Johan Laubscher
Round two of the GT Asia Series headed to Japan this weekend, hosted at
the Okayama circuit. Four Audi cars were entered by two teams, achieving
positive results.
Three Audi R8 LMS ultra cars (2013 spec) were entered by Absolute
Racing, on behalf of their customers. The first Absolute Racing car was the #7
J-Fly Racing R8 LMS ultra driven by Jeffrey Lee and Marchy Lee. The second car
was the #98 Team Hong Kong Racing entry driven by Philip Ma and Cong Fu Cheng. The
third and final R8 LMS ultra from Absolute Racing was the #888 Tunewear Racing
car driven by Francis Hideki Onda and Alex Yoong. The fourth Audi on the grid
was an older spec Hitotsuyama Racing Audi R8 LMS which was driven by Billy
Fung and Akihiro Asai. Absolute Racing competed in the top class and the Hitotsuyama
entry was in the GTM gentlemen class.
The Audi teams showed well during the sessions and Absolute Racing
finished qualifying with all their cars within the top ten for both races. Race
one saw #888 starting in third, #7 in fourth and #98 in sixth. Hitotsuyama
placed eighth overall and first in class. The grid for race two had #7 in
fourth, #98 in fifth and #888 in tenth. Hitotsuyama was fifteenth overall and eighth
in class.
Race one got underway in sunny conditions, with the pole sitting Aston
Martin leading the way in front. It was a very good race for the #888 Tunewear
R8 LMS ultra as they maintained their third position to the finish, Francis
Hideki Onda and Alex Yoong finishing on the podium. All of the Absolute Racing
car finished in the top ten as #7 finished fifth followed by #98 in seventh. Hitotsuyama
Racing dropped back and finished fourteenth overall and seventh in class.
The second race was held on Sunday and saw all three Absolute car
finishing in the top six. The leading Audi was the #7 J-Fly R8 LMS ultra which
finished fourth. The first Audi was followed by its two sisters cars, as #98
finished in fifth and the #888 in sixth.
The weekend was dominated by the Craft Racing Aston Martin Aston Martin
V12 Vantage GT3, which was driven by Frank Yu and Stefan Mücke.
The Okayama GT Asia weekend results can be seen HERE.
Round three of the GT Asia series will take place at the Fuji International Speedway in July.
Photo credit: Absolute Racing
