Photo: GT World Challenge Asia
A total of 33 cars are set to do battle in this weekend’s opening round of the new GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS season at Sepang International Circuit.
The entry list for the curtain-raising double-header features the same number of cars as the full-season entry published last month, albeit with one car, the No. 18 Porsche Center Okazaki entry, missing as planned as part of a three-round program.
That absence is offset by an Absolute Corse-entered Ferrari 296 GT3, the No. 98 car to be driven by Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer and Anderson Tanoto, which joins the team’s full-season No. 19 and No. 29 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 entries.
A total of 16 cars will race in the Pro-Am class at Sepang, with the remainder of the field made up of eight cars in Silver-Am, five in Am and four Silver Cup entries.
Eight manufacturers are represented, including newcomer Chevrolet via Johor Motorsports Racing’s pair of Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs which will feature Jordan Love and Alexander Sims as part of the driver lineup, as announced earlier on Monday.
Two TBAs remain on the entry, with Adderly Fong’s partner in the No. 13 Phantom Global Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R still to be named, despite the team’s announcement that Fong would team up with Sun Jingzu.
Loris Spinelli’s co-driver in the No. 19 Absolute Corse Lamborghini is also unconfirmed.
The sister No. 29 Huracan will be driven by Huang Ruohan and Akash Nandy.
Elsewhere in the Absolute Racing stable, Porsche veteran Patrick Pilet is a notable addition to the grid as he joins Wang Zhongwei in the No. 911 Porsche 911 GT3 R, the Frenchman having made two outings for Origine Motorsport last season.
Nico Menzel will also be at the wheel of a Porsche as he teams up with Taiwanese driver Brian Lee in the No. 10 GTO Racing example.
Sometime Porsche Supercup champion Dylan Pereira meanwhile will be at the wheel of the No. 61 EBM Porsche alongside Adrian D’Silva.
Paid practice for the Sepang opener begins on Thursday, with official practice and pre-qualifying taking place on Friday.
That will be followed by qualifying proper on Saturday morning ahead of the opening race at 2:15 p.m. local time (2:15 a.m. EDT), before the finale takes place on Sunday at 11:15 a.m. local time (Saturday 11:15 p.m. EDT).
