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Blancpain GT Series Asia
Mercedes-AMG shared victories in both of the weekend’s Blancpain GT Series Asia races at the Sepang International Circuit while Josh Burdon was the highest finishing Australian.
The Nico Bastian and Patric Niederhauser Mercedes-AMG GT3 won the opening race of the season after the latter made a daring pass for the lead in the closing stages of the 60-minute hit out with the benefit of fresher tyres.
It demoted the pole-sitting Lamborghini Huracan of Dennis Lind and Martin Kodric to second ahead of Brice Bosi and Raffaele Marciello in another Mercedes.
Australian Nick Foster and co-driver Leo Ye Hongli came home fourth in Race 1 aboard their Ferrari 488 GT3, while Tasmanian Josh Burdon and Anthony Liu placed sixth in an Audi R8 LMS.
Bosi and Marciello fought through to take a commanding Race 2 win for Mercedes, crossing the line in front of the Burdon/Liu Audi which lost the lead from pole at the start.
The Lamborghini Huracan of Hiroshi Hamaguchi and Marco Mapelli held on to third with fifth place going to Foster/Leo Ye in the HubAuto Corsa Ferrari.
Malaysian-Australian driver Mitchell Gilbert and Aditya Patel (OD Racing Team WRT Audi) recorded a DNF and a 10th, while Shae Davies and Sandy Stuvik (Craft-Bamboo Porsche 911 GT3-R) finished the two races 10th and 12th respectively.
West Australian Aidan Read and Darryl O’Young came home 11th and then 14th in the sister Craft-Bamboo entry, with Supercars star Tim Slade was a DNF and 17th in the Ferrari he shared with Morris Chen.
AMAC Motorsport’s Andrew Macpherson and Ben Porter scored 15th and 19th in their Lamborghini.
Blancpain GT Series Asia now heads to Thailand’s Buriram International Circuit on May 12-13.
Porsche Carrera Cup Asia
Philip Hamprecht claimed a lights to flag victory in Round 1 of Porsche Carrera Cup Asia at the Shanghai International Circuit.
Leading from pole, the German clinched the win ahead of Frenchman Maxime Jousse who fended off a charging Chris van der Drift in the closing stages following a Safety Car mid-way through the race.
South African Jordan Pepper finished fourth, while Martin Ragginger rounded out the top five positions.
Kiwi Will Bamber finished sixth with the Pro-Am class taken out by Wayne Shen, while Paul Tresidder was a DNF.
Rounds 2 and 3 take place at Fuji on June 15-17.
