Blancpain GT Asia GT3: Frantic start in Shanghai proves decisive for Ferrari pair 22.09.2018: Blancpain GT Series Asia Shanghai International Circuit Saturday, September 22nd 2018 A frenetic first corner laid the foundations for an unexpected result that saw championship leader Patric Niederhauser tumble down the order while avoiding Fr

Blancpain GT Series Asia
Shanghai International Circuit
Saturday, September 22nd 2018




A frenetic first corner laid the foundations for an unexpected result that saw championship leader Patric Niederhauser tumble down the order while avoiding Franky Cheng’s Audi, which was tagged into a spin by Dennis Lind.



An unrelated incident featuring Shaun Thong and Yuke Taniguchi also necessitated a early Safety Car period, but when racing resumed in anger after 16 minutes it wasn’t long before Lester – up to second after starting fifth – inherited the lead as a result of Lind serving a drive-through penalty.




There the Ferrari remained for the rest of the race, save for a few laps during the pit window, after both the Kiwi and then Foster eased clear of the chasing pack.



That same pack was headed pre-pitstops by Craft-Bamboo’s Darryl O’Young who benefitted most from the Turn 1 shake-up by vaulting from 10th to second. Lind’s penalty ensured the Porsche re-inherited the positon after Lester muscled past just before the Safety Car period, and remained there until just before the pitstops when KCMG’s Edoardo Liberati nipped through.



With Foster inheriting a healthy lead from Lester, all eyes were on who would emerge in second. Absolute’s Anthony Liu had been fifth but an early pitstop gave his Pro driver Alessio Picariello a precious few laps head-start on the other contenders, which ultimately paid dividends.




Indeed, Liberati’s co-driver Florian Strauss emerged just ahead of the Audi but was unable to maintain second on colder tyres.



While Picariello edged clear, the Nissan had soon fallen into the clutches of O’Young’s replacement, Aidan Read. The pair ran closely for some time before a committed move along the back straight helped the Porsche to draft past. Adderly Fong, who’d benefited from the scrap, followed suit soon after before also relieving Read of the final podium place.



Further back, Marco Mapelli was on the move aboard his FFF Racing Team Lamborghini. Fastest lap of the race helped the Italian pick up several places over the final 20 minutes, including that of Read’s fourth position, en route to making it three Pro/Am crews in the overall top-four.




Read, spurred on by the huge home crowd supporting Craft-Bamboo’s Shang Peng Gao Ke sponsors, gave the packed front grandstand something to celebrate by finishing fifth ahead of Strauss, who resisted late pressure from Lind’s recovering co-driver, Martin Kodric.



 Aditya Patel was right behind them in the OD Racing Team WRT Audi he shares with Mitch Gilbert.



Shae Davies started 22nd but finished ninth alongside Sandy Stuvik in the second of Craft-Bamboo’s Porsches while championship leader Niederhauser and his co-driver Nico Bastian salvaged a point for 10th after their first lap drama.



Elsewhere, the Am Cup will be decided tomorrow if KCMG’s Takuya Shirasaka and Naoto Takeda, who scored class victory today, beat AMAC Motorsport’s Andrew Macpherson and Ben Porter.

DRIVER QUOTES


Nick Foster, #27 HubAuto Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3: “It’s testament to this guy [Jono Lester] – his opening stint was brilliant! He started way down the pack and he came out of nowhere, like a phoenix from the ashes!



 To be honest we’ve struggled all weekend so this has come as a massive surprise. We threw the kitchen sink at that race and the kitchen sink drives beautiful!”

- Benjamin Franassovici - photo SRO