Ibrahim, Sims and JMR seal dream win on home soil

Prince Jefri Ibrahim and JMR celebrated a fairytale victory on home soil in the second of this weekend’s GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS races at Sepang.

The Corvette also driven by Alexander Sims took the chequered flag in the Johor royal’s hands 3.2s ahead of Craft-Bamboo’s Cao Qi and Jayden Ojeda, while Franky Cheng and James Yu (FAW Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom) made up 12 places in the final 14 minutes to complete the overall podium and claim Silver spoils for the second time in as many races.

Their cause was aided by a Safety Car period just after the pitstops that bunched the pack and set in motion a sequence of events that led to JMR’s first triumph in only its second outing with the Z06 GT3.R. The team and drivers also now lead their respective championships after finishing fourth yesterday.

Team KRC’s BMW shared by Tony Ruan and Maxime Oosten finished fourth overall but first in Silver-Am; their second class win inside 24 hours. Am victory went the way of Garage 75’s reigning champion David Tjiptobiantoro and Christian Colombo.

Joy for JMR

Lu Wei’s late drive-through penalty for turning around Climax’s long-time leading Mercedes-AMG sparked celebrations at JMR whose Corvette was on course to finish third until the closing minutes of Race 2.

It began with Ralf Aron converting pole into P1 from Oosten, who got the better of front row starter Dorian Boccolacci on the opening lap, and Sims. But while the Mercedes-AMG initially extended its lead, KRC’s chasing BMW was right behind by the time the pros pitted towards the end of the window.

Boccolacci was first to stop after fending off Sims but had 15 seconds extra to serve – 10 for finishing second yesterday and five more for being out of position at the start – which dropped Phantom’s Porsche down the order. Oosten’s extras also restricted his co-driver Ruan, who emerged in fourth behind Aron’s co-driver Zhou, Ibrahim and Lu Wei whose Origine 911 ran fifth over the first 35 minutes thanks to Bastian Buus.

But the end of the window also coincided with a pivotal moment in the race. Jordan Love was powerless to avoid Absolute Corse’s spinning Ferrari, which remained stranded on the track after being partially hit by the unsighted Corvette. The resulting long Full Course Yellow period and subsequent Safety Car intervention bunched the pack and created ideal conditions for a grandstand finish.

Zhou initially established a small advantage over Ibrahim who was distracted by Lu’s looming Porsche before losing second place. The 911 then set off in pursuit of Climax’s Mercedes-AMG in the hope of adding to Origine’s Race 1 victory. But contact at Turn 2 with seven minutes remaining sent Zhou spinning out of the lead and earned Lu a drive-through penalty, which he served immediately.

JMR and Ibrahim therefore inherited first place with only one lap remaining, but they were nevertheless there when it mattered most.

The incident also played into Craft-Bamboo’s hands. Ojeda pitted from eighth after enjoying a decent scrap with Nico Menzel during the opening stint. But with Saturday’s top three all running ahead and subject to success penalties, his co-driver Cao rejoined in fifth. That became fourth soon after the restart when he found a way past Ruan’s BMW before the top two’s altercation elevated the Mercedes-AMG to second overall.

He crossed the line just 0.5s ahead of FAW/Phantom’s Audi which benefitted most from the Safety Car intervention. Yu was leading his class in 11th overall when the pit window opened but saw his co-driver resume in 15th thanks to the FCY’s timing. However, Cheng was still the best placed Silver driver and fully exploited his advantage over the Ams once racing resumed.

KRC’s new M4 Evo added fourth overall to Saturday’s podium, while Race 1 winners Bob Yuan and Leo Ye Hongli (Origine) came through to finish fifth despite serving the maximum 15-second success penalty.

Anthony Liu and Boccolacci completed the top six ahead of Phantom stablemates Bao Jinlong and Markus Winkelhock, and Uno Racing’s Rio and Shaun Thong who bounced back from yesterday’s DNF to finish second in Silver.

Absolute Corse’s Lamborghini and Origine’s penalised Porsche completed the overall points paying positions.

Further back, Garage 75’s Ferrari enjoyed a comfortable Am class victory over EBM’s Setiawan Santoso and Martin Berry.

Results are HERE