By: Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific
July 4 2018
The #911 Craft-Bamboo Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, which is one of the six Porsches that received technical support from Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific last weekend, scored a season high second-place finish in race one of the Blancpain GT Series Asia round at Suzuka with Shae Davies and Sandy Stuvik on board.
In the first qualifying session, which determines the race one grid, Davies clocked the fourth fastest time in the #911 machine, with Darryl O’Young guiding his #991 Craft-Bamboo Racing Porsche to 12th overall. D’Station Racing’s Satoshi Hoshino was 15th fastest in the #47 entry, as Tetsuya Yamano qualified the #33 Porsche Team EBI car in 18th.
It was a strong start for Davies and O’Young’s team-mate Aidan Read, with the Australian duo making up places at the start to be third and 10th after the first few laps.
At the halfway stage, Stuvik took over from Davies in the #911 car, emerging in second place and in a battle for first. The Thai youngster showed good race pace but was unable to make a move on the race leader, crossing the line a well deserved second.
Rear damage following contact with another competitor saw Craft-Bamboo Racing’s #991 Porsche forced into retirement with O’Young on board, having run inside the top-10. The #33 of Tetsuya and Naoya Yamano made up a number of places to cross the line in 12th, with Hoshino and Seiji Ara in the #47 following them home in 13th.
After putting the car 10th on the grid in qualifying two, Stuvik took the start of the second race and immediately made up places, running seventh after a frenetic opening lap. The 23-year-old made up another position before Davies took his place, and despite a success penalty meaning they had to stop for an additional 10 seconds, the #911 emerged in eighth.
An impressive stint saw the 28-year-old climb back through to fifth at the chequered flag, seeing Craft-Bamboo Racing jump to sixth in the standings. The sister #991 car also improved despite the extensive damage carried over from race one. After initially dropping back to 20th at the start, Read completed a fine stint to claim ninth at the finish.
Team EBI made it three Porsches in the top-10, with the Yamano brothers scything their #33 machine from 19th on the grid to 10th overall. D’Station Racing also made a storming charge through the field, as they went from 21st to 13th.
In the GT4 class, Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific was providing technical support for the #17 Taiwan Top Speed Racing Team and the #11 TTR Team SARD, both fielding a Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR.
Qualifying one saw the #11 team of Brian Lee and Tony Fong Wai Shing go fourth fastest, with the #17 pairing of George Chou and Keo Chang lining up sixth for the race one grid.
Chou climbed to fourth in class after a promising start, and despite a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane, he and Chang were able to retake the position and crossed the line just outside the podium places. Lee and Fong Wai Shing fell back slightly but were still able to claim a top-five finish, just behind the #17 Porsche.
Starting sixth for the second race, Chang and Chou made steady progress to finish fifth in class, with the #11 squad holding station in seventh until the chequered flag.
Sandy Stuvik, Craft-Bamboo Racing #911 Porsche 911 GT3 R, said: “I’m incredibly happy with the first race, we had an excellent pit stop strategy, which put us in contention for the win. All the work the team has done has really paid off. This has been a huge step in the right direction, we aim to continue like this! In the second race I had some contact, which hurt our performance. We had the potential to make the podium which is frustrating but that’s racing. I just focused on maintaining pace and Shae did a great job in his stint to recover the 10-second success penalty. It was still a good way to round off a solid weekend by the team. I can’t wait for Fuji!”
Shae Davies, Craft-Bamboo Racing #911 Porsche 911 GT3 R, said: “I am absolutely over the moon with the second place on Saturday. It was a true team effort. To have scored such a great result on merit, without weather intervention or similar is a true credit to Craft-Bamboo, Porsche, our engineer, and all the guys and girls in our team. I am also very happy with the race two result and the weekend overall. Due to the damage, we had to nurse the car right through the race. I believe without this we could have made the podium so that shows some real progress for us. Very proud of the team and everyone involved.”
Russell O’Hagan, Operations Director of Craft-Bamboo Racing, said: “I am really pleased this weekend’s results have finally reflected the efforts of the team and the drivers. Huge congratulations go to Sandy, Shae and their engineer Matt for their constant commitment to racing smart. It’s been the same approach all season but the increased performance from the car this weekend enabled the rewards to be bigger. It was a frustrating weekend for the #991 car of Aidan and Darryl where some bad luck in race one ruined a promising run. The mechanics worked hard overnight to repair the car and, with a run from 20th to 10th today, the drivers showed what they can do. I am excited to see what they’ll deliver in Fuji.”
Alexandre Gibot, Head of Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific, said: “It’s great to see Porsche back towards the front again in the Blancpain GT Series Asia. Craft-Bamboo Racing deserved this result after all the hard work they’ve put in. D’Station Racing and Porsche Team EBI also did great jobs, with both cars demonstrating good race pace, which you can see by the positions they made up on Saturday and Sunday. Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific is proud to be offering technical support to these teams and hopefully we’ll get even better results in the coming races. We also had two Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR cars in the GT4 class, with both Taiwan Top Speed Racing Team and TTR Team SARD having strong races and not finishing far off the podium. There’s definitely more to come from them this season.”
Next for the Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific-supported teams will be the Blancpain GT Series Asia race at the Fuji Speedway, Japan (21-22 July).
About Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific
Launched in 2017, Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific (PMAP) provides access to Porsche’s extensive line-up of GT models to the growing market in the region. PMAP supplies technical, engineering, after sales and marketing support to teams and drivers competing in numerous championships including the Blancpain GT Series Asia, China GT Championship, Intercontinental GT Challenge and Thailand Super Series.
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