Indigo’s Mercedes-AMG started on pole but this was no lights-to-flag cruise for MG Choi and Manuel Metzger who were made to work for their third victory of the season.
Choi’s start was clean enough before he was overhauled on the run to Turn 4 by Tanart Sathienthirakul, who was followed through by Yuya Sakamoto. The Porsche, Ferrari and Mercedes-AMG then circulated together for the rest of the opening stint after dropping Audi Sport Asia Team TSRT’s David Chen.
There was never more than two seconds between the three championship protagonists who came into the weekend separated by 14 points. Pitstops looked the most likely chance to switch the order, but when the driver changes shook out it was still Philip Hamprecht out front from Metzger.
The German quickly closed in on his compatriot and, as they came up to the GT4 leader, took advantage of Hamprecht being baulked. Indigo’s Mercedes-AMG duly drove around the outside of both and into a lead it would never relinquish.
Behind, a slow pitstop initially dropped Sakamoto’s co-driver Marcos Gomes behind Rahel Frey. However, the Brazilian was soon past TSRT’s Audi and in pursuit of Hamprecht who he subsequently overtook at the same corner as Metzger with 10 minutes remaining.
Gomes was unable to catch Metzger who finished 4.8s clear, while Hamprecht came home another 3.5s further back. All three must now serve Pitstop Success Penalties tomorrow when the advantage will theoretically lie with Absolute’s Porsche.
Frey finished where team-mate Chen had pitted from after holding off Absolute’s second 911 shared by Yuan Bo and Yeo Le Hongli. They were chased hard by Martin Rump whose 15s Success Penalty limited his opportunity to catch the leaders after co-driver Weiron Tan had made his way up to fifth in the opening stint.
Pro/Am entries finished seventh and eighth, Shane van Gisbergen getting the better of Panther/AAS Motorsport’s Alex Imperatori on the final lap after the Kiwi’s scintillating stint saw Triple Eight’s Mercedes-AMG set fastest lap. Both crews were helped by VSR’s Lamborghini, which dropped to third in class and ninth overall after picking up a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pits.
A pitstop infringement also restricted JRM’s Porsche to 10th after Anthony Liu starred in the opening stint. The Chinese driver dropped from fourth to 17th on lap one but set a series of blistering laps to bring the car back into contention before Chris van der Drift climbed aboard.
AMAC Motorsport’s Andrew Macpherson and Ben Porter won the Am class in their Lamborghini.
Elsewhere, Jeffrey Lee’s five-place grid drop for making avoidable contact means team-mate Maxi Goetz will no longer start tomorrow’s race from pole position. That slot is now taken by Van Gisbergen who’s joined on the front row by Pro/Am class rival Imperatori.
GT4: CRAFT-BAMBOO RETURN TO WINNING WAYS
