Jonathan Hui (HKG) celebrated his first victory of the 2024 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS season after taking a dominant lights-to-flag P1 finish in the Bronze Cup at the Misano World Circuit in Italy. Round 3 of the championship held in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna forms part of the Sprint Championship, comprising two 1 hour races with incredible racing action as 34 GT3 cars battled it out around the 4.2 km circuit. Hui was unstoppable in the second race of the weekend along with his teammate Eddie Cheever III (ITA) in the #93 Sky Tempesta Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 as they comfortably sealed a class win after starting on pole.
It has been a strong start to the European season for Hui as he takes an early lead in the combined Endurance and Sprint Bronze Cup driver standings, with a class P4 finish in Paul Ricard in Round 1 of the season back in April. The duo arrived at Misano looking to make inroads towards the top of the standings. Cheever struggled to put together a perfect lap in the first part of qualifying, setting a time good enough for P15 overall and P5 in class for Race 1. The Italian had a strong start to the sprint race, managing to put himself up to P4 momentarily before the race came undone merely 10 minutes into the stint. The Sky liveried #93 Ferrari got hit from behind, sustaining significant damage to the aerodynamic diffuser. The race was an uphill battle from there, with both drivers struggling to match the pace of others in the up ahead. Despite the compromised performance, Cheever and then Hui nursed the car home to a respectable class P6 finish.
Race 2 at Misano was a special occasion, being the first night race of the campaign. Hui had performed brilliantly in qualifying to secure a class pole, which would prove to be monumental in the challenging low-light conditions. It was a clinical performance by the driver pair and the Sky Tempesta Racing crew with technical support from Ferrari specialists, AF Corse this season. The team executed a flawless performance as Hui clocked in consistent lap times and later handed the car over to Cheever in the lead, who followed suit. The #93 Ferrari looked untouchable by their Bronze Cup rivals, taking a comfortable victory by over 7 seconds as the chequered flag fell.
A strong weekend in Italy saw Sky Tempesta Racing and both drivers, Hui and Cheever, depart Italy with a strong haul of 22 points in the Sprint Bronze Cup. Both the team and Hui now sit on a comfortable 9-point lead at the top of the combined Endurance And Sprint Bronze Cup standings. The team will be looking to continue this momentum into the championship as it is bound to spice up in the next round as drivers take on the iconic 100th Edition of the Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa. The team is currently preparing hard to take on one of the most challenging endurance races in GT3 racing, which is set to be held from the 26th to the 30th of June. Follow Hui’s progress by watching the races live on the official GT World YouTube channel and Fanatec GT Europe website.
