Second place for HubAuto Corsa in Race-1 at Shanghai

The double-dater the constitutes the final round of the Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia, taking place on the Shanghai circuit, had the Yuya Sakamoto and Marcos Gomes pairing take second place in the Silver class at the wheel of the HubAuto Corsa 488 GT3, while David Tjiptobiantoro and Rio Haryanto took sixteenth position in the T2 Motorsports sister car in Pro-Am class. The result comes at the end of sixty minutes of racing without great excitement that allows Sakamoto to remain in contention in the title race, with just a 13-point deficit from MG Choi, with 25 points still up for grabs in the final race. The race, as mentioned, ran smoothly, with the exception of a single Safety Car incursion in the opening minutes after an accident involving a Porsche which made a debris clean-up necessary. The first part of the race, both before the service vehicle came out and immediately after its re-entry, featured David Tjiptobiantoro in the T2 Motorsports 488 GT3 as protagonist, who succeeded in climbing the order from fourteenth to tenth position. The Ferrari’s surge, however, was thwarted when he was rear-ended by the Lamborghini of Alex Au, slipping the driver in the Maranello machine down the table. The opening of the window for the mandatory driver swaps, proved a contributing factor; some 34 minutes before the end, Tjiptobiantoro pitted to hand over to Rio Haryanto, while HubAuto Corsa attempted the overcut, with Sakamoto staying out on track while the adversaries were entering the pit-lane. The Japanese driver delivered the 488 GT3 into the hands of Marcos Gomes 29 minutes ahead of time, who in just a few laps had reached the rear of Hamprecht, whom he passed easily. At this point the Brazilian went on the hunt for Tan in the Audi, still on top in the leader board, but the gap proved insurmountable for Gomes who had to settle for runner-up spot. Sixteenth place, meanwhile, went to the T2 Motorsports Ferrari driven by Haryanto who had sprung a spectacular overtaking manoeuvre on Wei Lu on the final lap.