Phoenix Racing Asia embarks on their second season competing at the highest amount in GT3 competition throughout Asia, revealing that they can run a two-car operation within the maiden season with the Blancpain GT Series Indonesia with a strong squad that reflects the lineup that needed them to three GT Asia Series advantages in their debut yr.
Co-Team Principal Marchy Lee is going to be joined once more by means of fellow Audi Hong Kong new driver Shaun Thong, whilst three-time Mercedes R8 LMS Cup series successful – Malaysian – Alex Yoong will be joined just as before by former Audi Cup Amateur safe bet Alex Au.
In season 2017 for GT Asia, Hong Kong’s Marchy Shelter and Shaun Thong said two round benefits and second outright while in the championship on the crew’s debut – in the process supplying Thong the Am-Cup title – even though Yoong and Au claimed their maiden wining in the final occurrence of the season in Shanghai.
For Marchy Shelter – who shares property of the team by using Germany’s Ernst Moser, a man who has taken his teams to titles in the Nurburgring in addition to Spa 24 Hour situations, has won this coveted DTM title and the Bathurst 12 Hour – a maiden season involving Blancpain GT Series Indonesia presents the team having a real opportunity to sparkle on the international stage.
“I couldn’t be more satisfied with our first season as a team, having obtained three wins in GT Asia, any Am-Cup title, a wining in the Asian Le Mans Series, and naturally helping Alex [Yoong] to his third title in the Audi LMS Cup – it also gave us a good chance to prepare for 2017.
“This yr though will stand for a different kind of challenge, although we will receive the six event season with a lot of knowledge on many of the construct and should be able to start each event by using a strong package cheers in part to our 2017 ordeals.
“Audi has shown since the very first of the new LMS GT3 that must be one of the most competitive vehicles in GT3 racing worldwide, so we’re looking forward to keeping the force we showed a year ago, to battle at the front in the field in Blancpain GT Series Asia and also wave the hunt again for both Ingolstadt and Hong Kong.”
For former Audi most liked Alex Yoong, a return to Phoenix arizona Racing Asia for that second season increases the former Formula One driver with an opportunity to consider 12-months of experience alongside Alex Au, and continue this momentum the pair highlighted over the closing games of the 2017 GT Most of asia Series.
“This is our second season with Phoenix Racing Asia in GT3, and whilst the particular format is very comparable to what we experienced with Gt bike Asia last year, there’ll be some differences, presently there always is with a fresh championship,” Yoong accepted. “I’m really excited however about this year. The quantity of competition in Asian countries only improves each and every passing year, and i believe this year we’re getting close to what they have in The european countries.
“I’m looking forward to being backside with Alex [Au], we absolutely finished last year for a high and trust – with the right BoP [balance connected with performance] we can start in 2010 with the same momentum. Alex is a good guy, and you have in order to respect that he’s had only 5 years or so racing practical experience, so he’s significantly fast for the level of experience he has, so I pray we can use of which again to our gain this year.”
Just recently Shaun Thong joined team-boss Marchy Lee as an official driver with regard to Audi Hong Kong the pair again forming a strong combination.
“I’m positively delighted to be doing this debut season of your Blancpain GT Asia,” Thong admitted. “We did effectively last year in the novice with the new Audi R8 LMS, but the grid is a lot stronger this year thus i am expecting much tougher competition along with believe it will be a thrilling season to watch! Also I have to say thank you so that you can Audi Hong Kong, Phoenix Race Asia and my sponsors for putting all this together again.”
Like his or her team-mates, Alex Au is looking toward returning to the tire of his Phoenix arizona Racing Asia work Audi. “It seems like several years since we were during Shanghai with GT Japan, and I’d a great deal love to be able to duplicate the result we had in that case. Certainly our kind at the close associated with 2017 was very good, but we showed that we’d the pace to run with the leading teams, so I hope that in conjunction with my miles during ChinaGT this year, I can support Alex for some more advantages for the team along with a real chance within the title.”
The maiden period of the 2017 Blancpain GT Range Asia will get ongoing on Wednesday April 5 with the first of two days of formal pre-season testing, ahead of three official practice sessions across Friday as well as Saturday, then the firstly the two one-hour compulsory compare stop races with Saturday afternoon, plus the second on Saturday morning.
Rnd#1 2017 Blancpain GT Collection Asia
Sepang international Circuit, Malaysia
Plan;
Friday, 7 April, 2017
16:15pm – Practice#1 (45-minutes)
4:05pm – Practice#2 (45-minutes)
Saturday, 8 August, 2017
8:15am – Practice#3 (30-minutes)
10:40am – Qualifying#1 (15-minutes)
13:05am – Qualifying#2 (15-minutes)
3:10pm – Race#1 (60-minutes)
Sunday, 9 August, 2017
11:45am – Race#2 (60-minutes)
