World Grand Prix Vol.221 | Welcome back to the new issue of 20230718 World Grand Prix! In the past period, the highlights are all below!
On July 15-16, the 2023 GTWC Asian Cup completed the third leg of the season at Suzuka International Circuit, and a number of Chinese powerhouses showed their strength at the F1 Japan Grand Prix and won awards on consecutive stages.
Two Hong Kong teams won the fifth and sixth rounds of the year, with the AAS Motorsport by Absolute Racing team No. 911 Vutthikorn Inthraphuvasak/Klaus Bachler winning the season for the first time in the fifth round final. Craft-Bamboo Racing Team No. 37 Liu Xu/Daniel Juncadella returned to the top podium in the sixth round final.
In the first final day of the competition, the Vutthikorn Inthraphuvasak/Klaus Bachler team, starting from 11th place, completed a beautiful pursuit in the No. 911 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992). Vutthikorn Inthraphuvasak, who was in charge of the start, avoided an accident in the car formation and steadily improved his position.
An efficient stop performance allowed Klaus Bachler to quickly enter the podium race after taking over the car. With a swift push, the Austrian driver scored the winning blow at the end of the race, eventually scoring his first victory of the season with teammate Vutthikorn Inthraphuvasak. The race was also the fourth time that the No. 911 crew had taken the stage in a completed five-round final. With this victory, Vutthikorn Inthraphuvasak also continues to take the initiative in the drivers' standings.
The local team TEAM TEAM 5ZIGEN's HIROBON/Shintaro Kawabata finished second in the No. 500 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3, while Porsche Center Okazaki's No. 18 Hirobei/Yuta Uemura finished third in the race.
Craft-Bamboo Racing's No. 37 Liu Xu/Daniel Juncadella team was unbeatable on the second finals. Mercedes-AMG factory driver Daniel Juncadella quickly built up his advantage from the start, and Liu Xu was equally flawless after taking the baton, with the pair securing their second win of the season by 9.279 seconds over Triple Eight JMR No. 88 Prince Abu Bakar Ibrahim/Luca Stolz.
The battle for the last place on the podium continued into the final moments of the race, with R&B Racing No. 4 Patrick Pilet and Climax Racing No. 2 Dennis Lind clamoring over the third-place ownership, with the two teams winning or losing. With a final lap of overtake, Lu Wei brought home the R&B Racing team's third full-race trophy of the season.
R&B Racing's No. 87 Ye Hongli/Yuan Bo team scored all the way to finish fifth from 17th place, winning the GT3 Silver Cup class in two consecutive rounds. Phantom Pro Racing Team No. 29 Cao Qi/Ling Kang won the GT3 Silver Cup class in two races.
The Climax Racing team also finished on the GT3 Am podium in two consecutive races, bringing home a championship and a runner-up.
In GT4, both rounds of victories went to the YZ RACING with BMW Team Studie 50 Oritogaku/Ghanaian Masaki class.
The GTWC Asian Cup will continue this weekend at the Motegi Circuit in Japan.
GTWC European Sprint Cup | Face Misano "Peter Pan" Rossi at home to meet the breakthrough
The second leg of the 2023 GTWC European Sprint Cup begins at the Misano circuit in Italy, where "Peter Pan" Valentino Rossi takes on his GT racing career breakthrough in his home campaign. The legendary MotoGP rider partner, Maxime Martin, scored his first victory since participating in SRO in the final of the second leg of the race.
Martin was responsible for the start in the second leg final, with the Belgian performing well, taking third place after the start and keeping up with the leading group. Despite the disruption of the race and the arrival of the safety car that recompressed the lineup, the first three remained stable, and after the parking window opened, Martin returned to the race with leading Team WRT teammate Dries Vanthoor, with the number 46 car to be taken over by Rossi.
Surprisingly, the WRT No. 32 unit, which had been leading the way, was delayed during the stop due to a tire change, and Rossi took the lead in jumping out of the station to the actual lead. In the remaining matches, Rossi, who won three times in Misano during the MotoGP period, showed strong competitiveness and managed to maintain the advantage until the end.
This became the first trophy won by Rossi and Martin in the GTWC European Sprint Cup, and it was the second time Rossi drove the BMW M4 GT3 to the top podium after his previous Michelin Le Mans Cup "Road to Le Mans" victory.
The No. 11 Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II driven by the ComToYou Racing team Lucas Legeret/Christopher Haase finished second with 4.243 seconds, while the Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer/Thomas Neubauer team drove the No. 31 BMW M4 GT3 to help the WRT team to another podium.
In the first leg final, the Akkodis ASP Team No. 88 Raffaele Marciello/Timur Boguslavskiy team won the "Pole to Win" style in Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO, and the Ferrari 296 driven by Emil Frey Racing Team No. 14 Giacomo Altoe/Konsta Lappalainen team The GT3 finished second in 7.461 seconds, while Team WRT's Dries Vanthoor/Charles Weerts crew 32 took third place in the BMW M4 GT3.
SuperFormula | Mount Fuji Rosenhau won his third win of the season
In the sixth leg of the 2023 Japan Super Formula Championship, unlimited driver Liam Lawson faces his third victory of the season under Mount Fuji. Rosen, who started in front row, was suppressed in the opening stages by fellow Honda pole winner Toshisuke Makino, and the New Zealand driver tried to charge the head car through Undercut.
Makino drove into the pit lane to defend one lap after Rosen's stop, and although he retained his top spot after returning to the track, he could not stop Rosen, whose tires had finished heating up and approaching quickly. Rosen maintained his advantage until the finish line after easily taking the first place, with Tsunsuke Makino bringing home runner-up for Docomo Team Dandelion Racing, and Honda Legion also taking the championship at Toyota's home turf.
Vantelin Team TOM'S's Miyata won the third place trophy in this race, and he is also the best performing Toyota driver. The third-place finish helped Miyata defend her lead in the standings, but second-placed Rosen was just a point away. Itochu Enex Team Impul driver Ryo Hirakawa excelled in the second half of the race, taking fourth place with an unstoppable pursuit.
The next leg of the Super Formula Championship will be held at the Motegi Circuit from August 18-20.
ELMS | Algarve Pro Racing dominates Le Castries for 4 hours
The 2023 ELMS European Le Mans Series Le Castile 4 Hours took place at the Paul Ricard circuit in France, where the Algarve Pro Racing team James Allen/Kyffin Simpson/Alex Lynn won the race and LMP2 class with a championship overtake at the end of the race. The Duqueine Team 30 Neel Jani/Nico Pino/Rene Binder also moved up to the silver cup with 4 minutes left in the countdown. Racing Team Turkey No. 34 Salih Yoluc/Charlie Eastwood/Louis Deletraz, who fell two places in the final minute, missed out on a great opportunity to reach the top again, but the LMP2 PRO-AM team finished third in the race to complete a two-game winning streak.
The LMP3 class winner went to RacingSpirit of Leman's No. 31 Antoine Doquin/Jacques Wolff/Jean-Ludovic Foubert, while the GTE class went to Christian Ried/Giammarco Levorato/Julien Andlauer in the No. 77 Porsche 911 RSR-19.
This is the end of this issue of "World Grand Prix", and I look forward to meeting you next time