Origine Motorsport Porsches Sweep Mandalika Weekend

Photo: GT World Challenge Asia

Origine Motorsport took a clean sweep of victories upon GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS’s first visit to Indonesia’s Mandalika Circuit last weekend.

Leo Ye Hongli and Yuan Bo made it two wins from the opening three races in Saturday’s opening round aboard the No. 87 Porsche 911 GT3 R, while Lu Wei opened his account on Sunday with the help of his new co-driver in the No. 4 car, Alessio Picariello.

Ye and Yuan jumped up the order from fifth in the opening race with the help of an early safety car period and then a full-course yellow that coincided with the pit stop window, which prevented the three Silver Cup cars at the head of the order from making the most of their favorable track position, as they would have to serve longer stops.

There was also an extra dash of fortune for the No. 87 crew as a slower changeover from Anthony Liu, who ran fourth ahead of Yuan in the No. 37 Phantom Global Racing Porsche to Dorian Boccolacci in a congested pit lane allowed Ye to rejoin ahead.

Ye then had a clear route to victory, stretching a five-second lead, as Liang Jiatong, taking over the Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo than ran second early on in the hands of Danial Frost, came under heavy pressure in the fight for second.

Ralf Aron was able to clear Jiatong and go to finish second in the No. 2 Climax Racing Mercedes-AMG he shares with Zhou Bihuang, while Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific selected driver Boccolacci claimed the final step on the podium for Phantom Global.

Jiatong was ultimately beaten in the fight for Silver honors by the No. 96 Harmony Racing Ferrari of Chen Weian and Deng Yi in fourth overall, with the Craft-Bamboo car slipping to sixth behind the Team KRC BMW of Maxime Oosten and Ruan Cunfan.

Lu and Picariello should have finished fourth in that race but for a post-race penalty that dropped them to 23rd, but they made amends in the second race, despite Picariello suffering contact with Lorenzo Patrese’s No. 55 Harmony Ferrari at the start.

The race looked as if it should be a straightforward one for Jayden Ojeda and Cao Qi in the No. 31 Craft-Bamboo Mercedes-AMG, with Ojeda leading from pole and handing over to Cao for the second stint, until the car incurred a stop-go penalty.

That transformed the contest into a three-way battle between the 5ZIGEN Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3, started by Yu Kanamaru and driven in the second half by ‘Motoki’, Lu’s Origine Porsche and the Phantom Global car of Liu.

After a late safety car period, Lu managed to get the run on ‘Motoki’ and pass into Turn 1, with Liu following through to make it a Porsche 1-2.

5ZIGEN was then denied an overall podium when ‘Motoki’ was turned around by the No. 96 Harmony Ferrari, which allowed Craft-Bamboo pair Frost and Jiatong to complete an impressive comeback from 19th on the grid and claim third.

Oosten and Cunfan were fourth, while guest stars Edoardo Mortara and Giancarlo Fisichella both finished in the top seven, the Absolute Corse Lamborghini of Mortara and Andrea Anatra finishing fifth ahead of the Origine Porsche of Ye and Yuan and the LM Corsa Ferrari of Fisichella and Shigekazu Wakisaka.

It was a disappointing weekend for Johor Motorsports Racing, which scored the Corvette Z06 GT3.R’s first win in Asia last month in Sepang, as Prince Jefri Ibrahim and Ben Green, standing in for Alexander Sims, managed only a single point for 10th in Race 2.

Ye and Yuan now lead the championship by nine points ahead of Liu and Boccolacci, with Oosten and Ruan a further ten points back in third.

The GTWC Asia season moves to the Buriram Circuit in Thailand for its third round on May 30-June 1.

RESULTS: Race 1/Race 2