Bob Yuan, Leo Ye clinch second GT World Challenge Asia crown

BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Origine Motorsport's Bob Yuan and Leo Ye became the GT World Challenge Asia's first two-time overall champions by the tightest of margins after a dramatic finale on the streets of Beijing on Sunday.

The pair tied on 125 points with teammate Lu Wei, but their three victories over Lu's two handed them the title on countback. Yuan and Ye finished fourth in a Safety Car-affected race that ended with local favorite Ye Yifei and Zhang Yaqi securing a maiden win for Winhere Harmony Racing's Ferrari.

Lu entered the season finale six points adrift of his teammates after having finished a lowly 12th in the previous race earlier on Sunday morning. Despite knowing a win could turn the tables, a frantic second race neutralized by multiple incidents denied him the clean run he needed. Both Origine Porsches reached the flag in the top seven, but the countback rule left Yuan and Ye celebrating a second crown.

The finale began cleanly, with Dorian Boccolacci storming into the lead for Phantom Pro Racing from the outside of the front row. Winhere Harmony's Zhang slotted into second ahead of Ye Yifei, who quickly found his rhythm around the freshly constructed Beijing Street Circuit - a layout more open and fluid than most street tracks.

When Boccolacci's co-driver Anthony Liu stalled in the pits, the Ferrari inherited the lead, and moments later, Liu crashed his Porsche heavily at Turn 1, bringing out a Safety Car that neutralized the race until the flag.

Behind the winning Ferrari, JMR's Ben Green and Jefri Ibrahim finished second, narrowly missing a chance to snatch the title had they been allowed to challenge Zhang for the lead. Their result nevertheless secured third in the championship, just three points off the top.

Bao Jinlong and Joel Eriksson charged from 12th to complete the podium in their BMW, while Lu and Bastian Buus took fourth. JMR's second Corvette, shared by Alexander Sims and Abu Bakar Ibrahim, followed in fifth, and Absolute Corse's Silver-Am winners Huang Ruohan and Akash Nandy claimed sixth.

Craft-Bamboo's Alex Jiatong and Darryl O'Young ended their campaign with another Silver class victory - a fitting end to the GT3 career of O'Young, who announced earlier this week that he would retire from racing after next month's Greater Bay Area GT Cup race in Macao. The class title, however, went to FAW Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom's Cheng Congfu and Yu Kuai, who had built an unassailable points lead.

In the Am category, AMAC's Ben Porter and Andrew Macpherson triumphed over EBM's Mercedes-AMG duo to close their season on a high. ■