GT Asia: Podiums and class victory for Absolute Racing Audis at Sepang

By Johan Laubscher

GT Asia resumed in Malaysia this weekend, where the fourth meeting of the season was hosted at Sepang. Absolute Racing was out in full force and they achieved great results during the second race.

Absolute Racing fielded a total of five Audi cars this weekend, three Audi R8 LMS ultra cars in the GT3 class, and two older Audi R8 LMS variants in the GTM class. 

Their team was split into two main parts. The R8 LMS ultra cars were entered under the team/entrant name of “Team R8 LMS ultra”, which represents three customers: J-Fly Racing, Tunewear Racing and Team Hong Kong Racing. The #7 J-Fly Racing car was racing in its new red/black/white livery for the first time in GT Asia, a livery which they debuted on the car at the Sepang 12 Hours two weeks ago. The #7 was driven by Jeffrey Lee and Marchy Lee. The #888 Tunewear R8 LMS ultra was driven by Francis Hideki Onda and Alex Yoong. The #98 Team Hong Kong Racing R8 LMS ultra was driven by Philip Ma and Cong Fu Cheng. 

Two Audi R8 LMS Cup entries had also been added to the Absolute Racing GT Asia squad this weekend, both entered in the GTM class. The first was a second J-Fly Racing entry, the blue #78 Audi R8 LMS of Benjamin Lee and Craig Liu. The final Audi entry was that of the Tiger Racing Team, who also recently took part in the Sepang 12 hours. The #77 R8 LMS was driven by Jacky Yeung and Carlo van Dam.

Qualifying was highlighted by two front row starting positions: the #888 grabbed second on the grid for race one and the #7 did the same for race two. Pole in the GTM class went to the #77 for race one. 

The first race was held on Saturday and saw the Audis battling near the front. By the end of the race the three GT3 Audis placed in positions six through eight, with the #7 of Marchy and Jeffrey Lee finishing sixth ahead of the #98 and the #888. The #77 Tiger Racing R8 LMS of Yeung and van Dam finished second in the GTM class. The first race was won by the #83 AF Course Ferrari 485 Italia.

Race two was held on Sunday and saw podium results for the Audi team. The #7 J-Fly Audi R8 LMS ultra of Marchy and Jeffrey Lee finished in second place. They were followed by the #888 Audi in sixth and the #98 in eighth. The #77 Tiger Racing R8 LMS of Yeung and van Dam went one better today, as they took victory in the GTM class, finishing tenth overall. The #78 finished fourth in GTM. The second race was again won by the #83 AF Course Ferrari 485 Italia.

The fifth GT Asia round will be taking place at Zhuhai in China during mid-October. 

Photo credit: Absolute Racing