- Strong end to the weekend for Hong Kong driver despite a troubled qualifying session
- Fourth Bronze class podium of the season in Endurance Cup for Sky Tempesta Racing
- Jonathan Hui extends class lead in Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Championship
Jonathan Hui (HKG) has made it four Bronze Cup podiums in four races, continuing his streak of incredible results at the 4th round of Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS Endurance Cup in Nurburgring last weekend. Despite having a shaky qualifying session, Sky Tempesta Racing managed to turn things around in the race to finish on the second step of the podium after a well-executed race. The Hong Kong driver heads into the final round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup leading the Drivers’ Championship along with his team mates Chris Froggatt (GBR) and Eddie Cheever III (ITA) by 7 points.
Sky Tempesta Racing had a strong start to the weekend as the team placed 14th overall and P2 in class during Free Practice, however, the British team only managed 39th overall and 10th in class battling the conditions in Pre-Qualifying. The Sky-liveried #93 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo’s struggles continued into Saturday as an extremely wet track meant the team wasn’t able to extract the most from the car. Despite the tricky conditions, the team managed to qualify P5 in the Bronze class, with Hui setting the best time out of all McLaren GT3s during the second part of qualifying.
The skies opened up on Sunday for the 3-hour race, forcing drivers and teams to quickly adapt to the bright and sunny conditions. Froggatt started the race brilliantly, making up 6 positions in just Turn 1 and was soon challenging for the class lead as the 54-car grid settled into a rhythm. Unfortunately, the British driver was spun around by a rival, reducing the advantage Froggatt had managed to build. Furthermore a 5-second penalty during the pitstop phase meant that Hui, who took over in the #93 McLaren, came out P4 in class. However, the Hong Kong driver remained undeterred and looked to make up the time lost during the long pitstop. The Asian driver quickly settled into the pace of the race by setting consistently fast laps as he made up the time lost.
Cheever took over for the final stint of the race and managed to build on to top of what Hui started as he continued to reduce the gap to the cars in front. The Italian applied immense pressure to the rival car and forced him into a mistake, inheriting another position in the process. Cheever’s calculated last stint proved to be incredible as he was able to bring the Sky Tempesta Racing McLaren to cross the finish line P2 in class and P23 overall.
Despite the challenging start to the weekend, Hui and his teammates brought home a successful result and continued their unstoppable podium streak, taking 18 valuable championship points and extending the lead at the top of the Bronze Cup class in the process. With the title decider coming down to the final race of the season, it is all to play for as the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup visits Barcelona between 29 Sep and 1 Oct 2023, where Sky Tempesta Racing will look to close out this incredible season on a high.
Jonathan Hui | Driver, #93 Sky Tempesta Racing McLaren 720S GT3 Evo “What a great team result! Another P2 in this ultra competitive championship means a lot as it’s always hard work competing against the best in the world. We had a great race car today so huge thanks to the team and McLaren for their support. We extend our lead in the championship but it’ll go down to the wire in Barcelona undoubtedly with a proper fight right to the end – I can’t wait.”