Saturday, September 14, 2013

GT Asia: Front row starting positions for Absolute Racing Audis at Sepang


By Johan Laubscher

GT Asia has resumed in Malaysia this weekend, hosting the fourth meeting at Sepang. Absolute Racing is again out in full force and they have taken very good spots in qualifying.

Absolute Racing is fielding a total of five Audi cars this weekend, three Audi R8 LMS ultra cars in the GT3 class, and two older Audi R8 LMS variants in the GTM class.

Their team is split into two main parts. The R8 LMS ultra cars are entered under the team/entrant name of “Team R8 LMS ultra”, which represents three customers: J-Fly Racing, Tunewear and Team Hong Kong Racing. The #7 J-Fly Racing car is racing in its new red/black/white livery for the first time in GT Asia, a livery which they debuted on the car at the Sepang 12 Hours two weeks ago. The #7 is driven by Jeffrey Lee and Marchy Lee. The #888 Tunewear R8 LMS ultra is driven by Francis Hideki Onda and Alex Yoong. The #98 Team Hong Kong Racing R8 LMS ultra is driven by Philip Ma and Cong Fu Cheng.



Two Audi R8 LMS Cup entries have also been added to the Absolute Racing GT Asia squad this weekend, both entered in the GTM class. The first is a second J-Fly Racing entry, the blue #78 Audi R8 LMS of  Benjamin Lee and Craig Liu. The final Audi entry is that of the Tiger Racing Team, who also recently took part in the Sepang 12 hours. The #77 R8 LMS is driven by Jacky Yeung and Carlo van Dam.

Two front row qualifying positions and pole position in the GTM class highlighted the Saturday for the Audi camp. During the first session the #888 of Onda and Yoong qualified on the front row in second place. They were followed by the #98 in fifth and the #7 in sixth. In twelfth overall was the #77 R8 LMS of Yeung and van Dam, who qualified on pole in the GTM class. The #78 was sixteenth overall, fourth in class. 


Another front row starting position was achieved during the second qualifying session, with the #7 of Marchy and Jeffrey Lee taking second. They were followed by the #888 in sixth and the #98 in seventh. The #77 was again twelfth overall, but third in class, followed by the #78 in fifteenth, again fourth in class.

Pole position for race one went to the #007 Craft Racing Aston Martin, followed by the #2 Asia Racing Team’s Porsche 911 taking pole for race two. The results can be seen HERE.


Photo credit: Absolute Racing