18 July 2018
Gotemba, 18 July 2018 – The 2018 Blancpain GT Series Asia campaign enters its second half this weekend at Fuji Speedway where another season-high entry comprising 33 supercars will assemble for rounds seven and eight. The championship’s second Japanese outing in the space of three weeks, following its trip to Suzuka and – before that – Buriram and Sepang, sees the big battles in every class waiting for two 60-minute races around the 16-turn, 4.563-kilometre layout overlooked by Mount Fuji.
Open game. Five different winning crews in the first six races has certainly kept the GT3 class interesting. However, only one pairing has been both fast and consistent: FFF Racing’s Dennis Lind and Martin Kodric. However, Lind and Kodric’s for winning Race 2 carry a 15s pitstop success penalty into Saturday’s round. That leaves the door open for rivals manufacturers including Ferrari, which will be competing with four cars in two classes.
Rigon. Absolute Racing’s Franky Cheng and Martin Rump in the Silver class are six points clear of Nick Foster, who snatched Suzuka pole thanks to an incredible late effort aboard the same HubAuto Corsa Ferrari he shares this weekend with fellow Antipodean and Blancpain GT Series Asia debutant, Jono Lester. On the other HubAuto Corsa 488 GT3, Ferrari factory driver Davide Rigon joins Morris Chen in what could be seen as a preparation program for the 10 Hours of Suzuka that will be run at the end of August.
CarGuy. On the ARN Racing 488 GT3 there will be again Kota Sasaki and Hiroaki Nagai after the pair skipped the Suzuka race due to a clash with another series’ round. There will be a fourth Ferrari on the grid, it’s the CarGuy Racing 458 Italia GT3 with Naoki Yokomizo alongside Ferrari Challenge APAC star Xu Wei.