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Bentley strike first in South Korea in action filled season opener

Bentley records 1-2 finish after dramatic opening leg of round one

#8 Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3: Jonathan Venter, Keita Sawa

#8 Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3: Jonathan Venter, Keita Sawa

GT Asia Series

Podium: race winners #8 Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3: Jonathan Venter, Keita Sawa
#5 Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3: Marchy Lee, Shaun Thong and #37 BBT Ferrari 488 GT3: Davide Rizzo, Anthony Liu
#13 Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3: Franky Cheng, JingZu Sun
Race 2 start action
#88 Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche Porsche 911 GT3 R: Richard Lyons, Frank Yu
#91 Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche Porsche 911 GT3 R: Darryl O'Young, Naiyanobh Bhirombhakdi
Alex Yoong and Alex Au, Phoenix Racing, Audi R8 LMS GT3 and Marchy Lee and Shaun Tong, Phoenix Racing, Audi R8 LMS GT3
Start
Race action
#55 FFF Racing McLaren GT3: Hiroshi Hamaguchi, Alvaro Parente
#88 Craft-Bamboo Aston Martin: Richard Lyons, Frank Yu
#8 Absolute Bentley GT3: Keita Sawa, Adderly Fong

After an epic battle over the opening laps of the first round of the 2016 GT Asia Series season, Bentley has claimed an emphatic 1-2 in South Korea, weathering an early storm from the new Lamborghini and the Craft-Bamboo Porsche of Richard Lyons.

Earlier in the day, 2015 season runner-up Adderly Fong had smashed Andrea Caldarelli’s 2014 lap record in the opening qualifier, whilst former race winner Marchy Lee stunned his rivals in qualifying#2 after displacing the most successful team in GT Asia history at Korea International Circuit [KIC] - the BBT Ferrari of Anthony Liu and Davide Rizzo.

Ultimately Bentley prevailed in the opening round with Fong’s 2015 team-mate Keita Sawa, and new driving partner Jonathan Venter claiming the win after Sawa chased down Fong’s new team-mate Andrew Kim five laps from home, but whilst the result looked good for the British built supercar, things could well have been very different if not for an early race incident between the new FFF Racing Lamborghini, and the Craft-Bamboo Porsche of Lyons.

After a rough start to the day with damage to the #88 Interush Porsche in qualifying, Lyons stormed off the start from the second row to lead into turn two. Behind him there was contact between the #55 Lamborghini of Edoardo Liberati and pole-sitter Fong, but they soon sorted things out before an error by the young Italian at turn four removed he, and race leader Lyons, from the equation.

From there it was all down to the Bentleys, with Liu and Rizzo keeping their perfect score of South Korean podiums intact with third from Piti Bhirombhakdi and Carlo Van Dam in the Singha Motorsport Ferrari 458.

In the battle for GTM honours, former champion Dilantha Malagamuwa and Armaan Ebrahim claimed the win despite some mid-race damage to the Dilango Racing Lamborghini, whilst in GTC, Bhurit Bhirombhakdi and Kantasak Kusiri took the win for Singha Plan-B Motorsport in their Ferrari 458 Challenge.

Qualifying#1 (15-minutes)

1. Adderly Fong (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) - 2:06.014
2. Edoardo Liberati (FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3) - 2:06.360
3. Jonathan Venter (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) - 2:06.481
4. Richard Lyons (Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche GT3-R) - 2:07.025
5. Carlo Van Dam (Singha Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) - 2:07.128
6. Shaun Thong (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) - 2:07.257
7. Darryl O’Young (Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche GT3-R) - 2:07.431
8. Alex Yoong (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) - 2:07.558
9. Davide Rizzo (BBT Ferrari 488 GT3) - 2:07.579
10. Franky Cheng (Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3) - 2:07.687


Qualifying#2
(15-minutes)

1. Marchy Lee (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) - 2:06.979
2. Anthony Liu (BBT Ferrari 488 GT3) - 2:07.211
3. Keita Sawa (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) - 2:07.289
4. Andrew Kim (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) - 2:07.690
5. Andrea Amici (FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3) - 2:07.834
6. Piti Bhirombhakdi (Singha Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) - 2:09.227
7. Richard Wee (Clearwater Racing Ferrari 488 GT3) - 2:09.897
8. Naiyanobh Bhirombakdi (Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche GT3-R) - 2:10.466
9. Frank Yu (Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche GT3-R) - 2:10.574
10. JingZu Sun (Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3) - 2:10.601


Race#1
(60-minutes)

1. Venter/Sawa (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) - 28-laps
2. Fong/Kim (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3) +1.858
3. Rizzo/Liu (BBT Ferrari 488 GT3) +20.531
4. Van Dam/Bhirombhakdi (Singha Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) +33.723
5. Thong/Lee (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) +54.792
6. Cheng/Sun (Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3) +58.941
7. Yoong/Au (Phoenix Racing Asia Audi R8 LMS GT3) +1:17.768
8. Mok/Wee (Clearwater Racing Ferrari 488 GT3) +1:23.754
9. O’Young/Bhirombakdi (Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche GT3-R) - 27-laps
10. Sugden/Ma (GruppeM Racing Porsche GT3-R)
11. Ebrahim/Malagamuwa (Dilango Racing Lamborghini Gallardo FL2)
12. Kurisi/Bhirombhakdi (Singha Plan-B Motorsport Ferrari 458 Challenge) - 25-laps
13. Buncharoen (True Vision Motorsports Porsche 991 Cup Car)
14. Amici/Liberati (FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3) - 6-laps
15. Lyons/ Yu (Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche GT3-R) - 6-laps

NTR. Palmer/Inthraphuvasak (Absolute Racing Bentley Continental GT3)

 

GT Asia Series

 

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