Rnd#3/4 GT Asia Series - 26-28 June, 2015 - Okayama, Japan
The three-car FFF Racing Team by ACM operation made their debut in the GT Asia Series at the opening round in South Korea six weeks, ago, and immediately made their intentions known. With a lineup of drivers that includes former Formula 1 pilot Tonio Liuzzi, and Super GT star Andrea Caldarelli, they were always likely to make an impression on the regions most successful GT series, but no-one quite expected their first victory to come just three races into the new season.
“I’m really happy actually,” Caldarelli admitted after local hero Hiroshi Hamaguchi and Liuzzi scored a dominant victory in the opening race at Okayama. “We have shown already at the second event that we can win races. I think we deserve the victory as a team because we had very good pace right through the race as others fell off around us.”
Practice provided the new team with a number of big challenges, with a mix of warm dry running on Thursday, and torrential rain on Friday that saw limited running ahead of what was predicted to be a dry weekend.
Despite that the experienced McLaren crew kept fine tuning the car to reduce the deficit to the leading teams, and by qualifying a monster effort by Liuzzi elevated the #55 car to a third row start, with the experienced Caldarelli - a two-time race winner in Super GT at Okayama - also making the top ten. Caldarelli was frustrated not to be further forward, but his time was just a quarter of a second slower than Liuzzi, a good indication of just how competitive and close the field of ‘Pro’ drivers were.
In Q2, both Hamaguchi and Jiang Xin in the #9 car made the top ten, with Hamaguchi comfortably shadowing the leading teams.
Sadly the #9 car would be unable to make a start in the opening race after a brake failure saw all four calipers clamp solid on Wiser as he tested the brakes on his out lap to the grid, the frustrated Italian rolling to a stop not too far from the flaming #1 Ferrari of Gianmaria Bruni which also suffered a technical issue on the out lap.
The team retrieved the car during the extended delay to remove Bruni’s Ferrari, however they were unable to effect a permanent repair, discovering later that some rubber had become dislodged inside the pressure regulator, it was soon repaired and the car ready for action in race two.
Off the start the pole-sitting Bentley stole the lead ahead of his team-mate, but Liuzzi too made short work of that team’s third car to be fourth into turn one. He turned in a strong sequence of consistent laps as the race leaders set a string of qualifying laps ahead of the compulsory pit stop [CPS], but Liuzzi wanted to keep the best tyres he could under the car to give Hamaguchi the best opportunity to attack, so he let the leaders go.
It became a moot point in the end though, as a Safety Car just prior to the CPS regrouped the field, allowing Liuzzi to close on the lead pack. The top four cars continued to attack as the bulk of the field came into pit lane behind the Safety Car, Liuzzi locking under the rear wing of the second-placed car, before taking the lead as the two Bentleys hit pit lane together.
Liuzzi charged over his final lap, hitting the pits to hand Hamaguchi the car, the popular Japanese driver slotting into second between the two Bentleys and the leading Ferrari.
Initially he was taken by Thai driver Todd Piti in the Ferrari after the team elected to change to new tyres for Hamaguchi’s stint, and it took a lap to get them up to temperature before he charged back through to second and into pursuit of Jeffrey Lee in the leading Bentley. Ultimately though despite closing the Bentley down within half a lap, he inherited the lead after Lee was given a drive-through penalty for a pit-lane infringement.
At that stage Hamaguchi’s lead was just a couple of seconds, but he was comfortably one of the fastest drivers in the field, ultimately stretching the advantage to almost 20-seconds by the flag, despite the points-leading Ferrari charging hard over the final laps.
It was a popular win for both the team and the strong local crowd who were overjoyed to see the Japanese driver back on the podium.
“I knew we had a chance to be on the podium, but didn’t expect we’d be here as winners,” Hamaguchi admitted post-race. “After qualifying we knew we had a pretty good pace. I’m just very happy for the team to take their first win, I hope it’s the first of many wins to come.”
“We’re all really proud of the job we’ve done,” Liuzzi added. “Obviously we were pushing very hard because we felt that Okayama better suited the characteristics of our car. We were still struggling a little on the long straights, but through the infield it was very quick. Now it’s on to race two, although that will be a little more difficult with our additional pit stop penalty for winning race one.”
For race two all three McLarens were back in action with Hamaguchi looking for another strong result from the second row of the grid.
Like Liuzzi he quickly slotted into a strong pace, pitting from fourth behind the points leading Ferrari. Unfortunately though, by virtue of winning the opening race Liuzzi’s minimum stop was ten seconds longer than most of his rivals, the Italian rejoining towards the tail of the top ten as a result. Like Caldarelli, who was comfortably the fastest car in the field, he charged hard over the closing laps, working his way back to seventh, Caldarelli tenth and Wiser eleventh, not too far behind his team-mate.
“Victory and a number of top ten finishes isn’t a bad weekend overall,” Team Manager Alf Boarer admitted. “Certainly taking our first win was fantastic, Hiroshi and Tonio turned in a flawless performance, and we can’t be too disappointed with their seventh placed finish in race two, less than ten seconds behind the race winner..!”
Whilst the two black and orange FFF Racing Team by ACM McLarens had flawless races, Wiser and Jiang again fell victim to a situation outside of their control, this time, contact with the spinning Dilantha Malagamuwa Lamborghini after it was tagged by Jeffrey Lee’s Bentley.
“Jiang Xin did a great job working his way up the order to be in the battle for seventh place, but just as he closed in on the Lamborghini, the Bentley spun in front of Dilantha, and tagged him as he tried to get past. Jiang Xin took to the gravel to avoid them both, and almost got away with it, but the Lamborghini clipped the rear wing,” Wiser explained.
“That put it out of alignment and made it difficult to drive, but I’m not too disappointed overall, because I was quicker than Tonio over the closing laps, and he had the pace to win the race without the time penalty. A tough weekend for us in the end.”
For Caldarelli, it was a weekend of mixed emotions, although the team did manage to show just what they’d hoped to prove in their debut season - that they are capable of victory, something which will force their rivals to keep a close watch heading into the second Japanese event at Fuji.
“We know that Fuji will be quite good for us. I’m sure that Hiroshi and Tonio will be very competitive, and I am sure my team-mate will also improve again, and I hope the third car will have a better opportunity to show what they can really do and score some good points for the team.”
Rnd#3/4 2015 GT Asia Series
Okayama International Circuit, Japan
Qualifying #1 (15-minutes)
1. 7. Andy Soucek (Absolute Bentley Continental GT3) - 1:29.173
2. 88. Richard Lyons (Craft-Bamboo Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3) - 1:29.282
3. 77. Duncan Tappy (Absolute Bentley Continental GT3) - 1:29.412
4. 8. Keita Sawa (Absolute Bentley Continental GT3) - 1:29.436
5. 55. Tonio Liuzzi (FFF Racing Team by ACM McLaren 650S GT3) - 1:29.547
6. 37. Davide Rizzo (BBT Team Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) - 1:29.552
7. 1. Gianmaria Bruni (Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) - 1:29.557
8. 24. Kota Sasaki (Dilango Racing Lamborghini Gallardo FL2 GT3) - 1:29.636
9. 11. Carlo Van Dam (Singha Ferrari 458) - 1:29.785
10. 5. Andrea Caldarelli (FFF Racing McLaren 650S GT3) - 1:29.839
14. 9. Max Wiser (FFF Racing McLaren 650S GT3) - 1:30.925
Qualifying #2 (15-minutes)
1. 8. Adderly Fong (Absolute Bentley Continental GT3) - 1:29.441
2. 99. Jonathan Venter (Craft-Bamboo Racing Aston) - 1:29.909
3. 55. Hiroshi Hamaguchi (FFF Racing Team by ACM McLaren 650S GT3) - 1:30.287
4. 37. Anthony Liu (BBT Team Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) - 1:30.792
5. 1. Mok Weng Sun (Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458) - 1:31.739
6. 11. Piti Bhirom Bhakdi (Singha Ferrari 458) - 1:32.100
9. 9. Jiang Xin (FFF Racing Team by ACM McLaren 650S GT3) - 1:33.438
18. 5. Fu Song Yang (FFF Racing McLaren 650S GT3) - 1:39.350
Race #1 (50-minutes)
1. 55. Tonio Liuzzi/Hiroshi Hamaguchi (FFF Racing McLaren 650S GT3) - 32-laps
2. 11. Carlo Van Dam/Piti Bhirom Bhakdi (Singha Ferrari 458) +19.901
3. 37. Davide Rizzo/Anthony Liu (BBT Team Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) +20.291
4. 99. Darryl O’Young/Jonathan Venter (Craft-Bamboo Racing Aston) +33.582
5. 7. Andy Soucek/Jeffrey Lee (Absolute Bentley Continental GT3) +47.944
6. 12. Craig Baird/Richard Wee (Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458) +54.014
13. 5. Andrea Caldarelli/Fu Song Yang (FFF Racing McLaren 650S GT3)
DNS. 9. Jiang Xin/Max Wiser (FFF Racing McLaren 650S GT3) +41.884
Race #2 (45-minutes)
1. 8. Adderly Fong/Keita Sawa (Absolute Bentley Continental GT3) - 26-laps
2. 88. Frank Yu/Richard Lyons (Craft-Bamboo Racing Aston Martin GT3) +0.401
3. 99. Jonathan Venter/Darryl O’Young (Craft-Bamboo Racing Aston) +2.347
4. 12. Richard Wee/Matt Griffin (Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458) +2.941
5. 37. Anthony Liu/Davide Rizzo (BBT Team Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) +3.503
6. 11. Piti Bhirom Bhakdi/Carlo Van Dam (Singha Ferrari 458) +4.089
7. 55. Hiroshi Hamaguchi/Tonio Liuzzi (FFF Racing McLaren 650S GT3) +9.477
10. 5. Fu Song Yang/Andrea Caldarelli (FFF Racing McLaren 650S GT3) +28.551
11. 9. Jiang Xin/Max Wiser (FFF Racing McLaren 650S GT3) +41.884
2015 GT Asia Series - Championship Points
GT3 (after round four of 11)
1. Anthony Liu/Davide Rizzo (57-points), 2. Adderly Fong/Keita Sawa (45), 3. Darryl O’Young/Jonathan Venter (42), 4. Richard Lyons/Frank Yu (37), 5. Piti Bhirom Bhakdi (34), 6. Hiroshi Hamaguchi/Vitantonio Liuzzi (28), 7. Richard Wee (27), 8. Jeffrey Lee (25), 9. Carlo Van Dam (24), 10. Jacky Yeung/Duncan Tappy (21), 11. Matt Griffin, Zen Low/Fairuz Fauzy (18), 12. Sean Fu/Andrea Caldarelli (17), 13. Mok Weng Sun/James Calado, Jean-Karl Vernay (16), 14. Jiang Xin/Max Wiser (14)