Bob Yuan and Leo Ye Hongli have claimed their third GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS victory in the last four starts – including the final round of 2024 – in the first-ever international car race held at Mandalika International Circuit in Indonesia.
The reigning champions’ Origine Porsche took the chequered flag 5.2s ahead of Climax Racing’s Mercedes-AMG shared by Mike Zhou and Ralf Aron who fended off the advances of Phantom Global Racing’s Anthony Liu and Dorian Boccolacci.
All three crews benefitted from two Full Course Yellow and Safety Car periods in the opening stint that particularly compromised the Silver entries run by FAW Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom and Craft-Bamboo.
Instead, Silver class victory went to Winhere Harmony’s Chen Weian and Deng Yi who also finished an excellent fourth overall after Origine’s #4 911 incurred a post-race penalty in lieu of a drive-through, while Maxime Oosten’s elbows-out stint helped Team KRC’s BMW and Ruan Cun Fan maintain their 100% Silver-Am record in 2025.
But there was a new winner in the Am class where Elegant Racing’s Mercedes-AMG shared by Alex Liu and Reinhold Renger took victory ahead of home favourites Garage 75.
FCYs SCUPPER SILVER CONTENDERS’ HOPES
A historic race began in orderly fashion with pole sitter Cheng Congfu fending off Daniel Frost and Anthony Liu into Turn 1 before Chen passed Phantom’s Porsche early in the lap to make it three Silver class cars in the top three.
Their natural pace advantage should have allowed the Audi, Mercedes-AMG and Ferrari to break clear of the pursuing Pro-Am pack. But their progress was checked by Zhang Yaqi’s heavy accident after seven minutes that necessitated a lengthy Full Course Yellow and Safety Car period.
A second neutralisation was then required soon after the restart due to Liu Hangcheng’s stranded Ferrari. The FCY coincided with the pit window opening, which further compromised the three leading Silver contenders whose minimum pitstop time was seven seconds longer than those in the other classes.
Phantom’s Porsche should have been the chief beneficiary. But the busy pitlane resulted in Boccolacci being blocked in, all of which allowed Ye to jump from fifth to first.
20 minutes remained when racing resumed, Ye making the most of squabbling behind to build an unassailable lead – via fastest lap – en route to a comfortable win.
Craft-Bamboo’s Mercedes-AMG rejoined in second place despite serving its extra Silver pitstop time but was immediately under pressure from the likes of Aron – up four places from seventh before the driver changes – Boccolacci, Deng, Akash Nandy, Alessio Picariello and the erstwhile leading Audi which had served an additional five seconds on top of its seven for finishing third at Sepang.
There was wheel-to-wheel action up and down the field thereafter, but nowhere more intense than the initial battle for second that was, at times, four cars wide. Aron ultimately emerged ahead of Boccolacci and Picariello, while Deng overcame Liang Jiatong to bag maximum Silver class points in fifth overall before gaining a position post-race at Origine’s expense.
Fifth and a third Silver-Am win in as many races went to KRC’s BMW thanks to Oosten’s swashbuckling stint that culminated in a class-winning move on Nandy. Absolute Corse’s Lamborghini might have finished right behind were it not for team-mate Harry King who nudged the Huracan around at Turn 1.
Instead, the Craft-Bamboo Mercedes-AMG and FAW/Phantom Audi that led before the stops completed the Silver podium in sixth and seventh, while the first of JMR’s Corvettes, CBR’s other Mercedes-AMG and Absolute Corse Ferrari rounded out the top 10.
Further back, Liu and Renger scored theirs and Elegant’s first Am class victory by beating Garage 75’s David Tjiptobiantoro and Christian Colombo by eight seconds.
The second of Mandalika’s two 60-minute races begins at 11:30 WITA (UTC +8) on Sunday. Watch it live on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel.