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GT: Audi claims overall win at 12 Hours of Sepang

Saturday, 10 December 2016


RACER Staff / Image by Audi AG, Porsche AG

Audi celebrated overall victory in the 12 Hours of Sepang as Laurens Vanthoor, Christopher Haase and Robin Frijns from Audi Sport Team Phoenix used canny tire tactics and faultless driving to win with a lap in hand.
Vanthoor additionally secured the drivers' title in the inaugural Intercontinental GT Challenge. By winning the Motul Sepang 12 Hours – and scoring points with the second car as well – Audi won the manufacturers title with 86 points, beating Bentley by a clear 35 points. McLaren and Mercedes-AMG both scored 49 points.

Earl Bamber (#911 Manthey Racing Porsche) jumped from third to first in the early going ahead of a great scrap for second, between the #9 K-PAX Racing McLaren, the #912 Manthey Racing Porsche and the #50 Spirit of Race Ferrari. Haase (#15 Audi R8 LMS) had started from the pit lane due to an electrical issue, but climbed from dead last to seventh by the end of the first hour.
Except for the #9 KPAX Racing McLaren dropping out of contention due to suspension problems, that hierarchy barely changed during the first couple of hours, with the #50 Ferrari using an alternate strategy to take the lead on a couple of occasions. However, during the fifth hour, the running order completely changed as the rain arrived. The Audi cars were the first to go to rain tires. That moved them both into the top three, with the #15 R8 in first place and the #16 in third.


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Dealing with difficult conditions – the track went from wet to dry and back several times – it looked like the Team Phoenix cars were heading for the double, but a safety car intervention some two hours enabled their rivals to close in. After the restart, Bamber passed the #50 Ferrari and the #16 Audi to claim second for the #911 Porsche of Bamber, Nick Tandy and Tandy and Patrick Pilet. Rene Rast brought the #16 Audi home in third for himself, Markus Winkelhock and Pierre Kaffer. "This was the last race I drove for Audi, and to win and take the championship is the perfect way to end it," said an emotional Vanthoor, who has claimed titles in the FIA GT Series, the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup and the overall Blancpain GT Series, as well as wins in the 24 Hours of Spa and the FIA GT World Cup with Audi. "It was so busy during the weekend and during the race, I only realized it was over when I did the in-lap of my last stint. When I got out of the car, I gave it a little tap on the roof. Now, it's time for a new chapter."

In the Pro-Am class of the GT3 category in the Motul Sepang 12 Hours, the fight between the #35 HubAuto Racing Ferrari and the #11 Prancing Horse of Singha Motorsport Team went down to the wire. The cars eventually finished in sixth and seventh overall, with the win narrowly going to the HubAuto Ferrari, driven by Morris Chen, Hiroki Yoshimoto, Shinya Hosokawa and Hiroki Yoshida. The Am-Am class of GT3 was won by the #75 T2 Motorsport Ferrari of Gregory Teo Bee Tat, David Tjiptobiantoro and Christian Colombo in their first race.
The #26 B-Quik Racing Audi and #67 GDL Racing Team Asia Lamborghini ruled the race in the GTC class, with the Huracan having a slight advantage during the early hours, when the bumblebee-liveried Audi was hit by tire trouble after only three laps. However, Henk Kiks, Daniel Bilski and Peter Kox staged a great comeback to claim the class win and finishing just outside the top 10 overall.
In the MARC category, the fraternal duel between the #91 Focus V8 and the #93 Mazda 3 V8 turned out in favor of the latter, despite its early race off-track excursion. Jake Camilleri, Morgan Haber and Rob Thompson drove faultlessly after that, beating their MARC-teammates by two laps.
GT4 was dominated by the Ginetta G55 cars, and for a long time there was little between the #55 Simpson Motorsport car and the #69 Aylezo Ecotint Racing G55. When the rain came down heavily some two hours from the end, the #55 Ginetta had some issues in leaving the pit lane, effectively ending the class battle. Zen Low, Darren Burke and Dan Wells took the top step with the #69 Aylezo Ecotint Racing G55.
In the Touring Car division the polesitter, the #77 Jim Hunter Motorsport Subaru, had to start from the pit lane after an engine change, and although the Australian squad managed to fight its way back to the front, they eventually had to bow to the quick #100 Amuse & SPV Racing Toyota, driven by Takashi Oi, Hitoshi Matsui, Takashi Ito and Kenny Lee. The #77 Subaru finished in second, in front of the #7 Team ST Honda Civic. Despite having a very difficult race, Douglas Khoo, Naoto Takeda, Takuya Shirasaka and Ate Dirk De Jong managed to finish and claim the honors in the TC class.
Series organizer Stephane Ratel expressed satisfaction at the conclusion of the first season for his new series.
"Even though we regretted the absence of Bentley and Mercedes-AMG in the final round, with four manufacturers competing in the inaugural season of the Intercontinental GT Challenge we have laid the foundation for a prestigious global challenge at the pinnacle of GT3 racing," he said.

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