Porsche customers had another excellent Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS weekend at Okayama International Circuit, with representation on the podium in both GT3 races, while Porsche Center Okazaki claimed the Fanatec Japan Cup title.

Two third-placed finishes in class for the Japanese duo of Hiroaki Nagai and Yuta Kamimura were enough to clinch the championship following a strong campaign, which has seen them pick up overall podiums at both Suzuka and Motegi.

The AAS Motorsport by Absolute Racing crew of Vutthikorn Inthraphuvasak and Alessio Picariello had an excellent weekend in the #911 Porsche 911 GT3 R (Type 992). The pair started the two races on pole thanks to a brilliant qualifying performance, before clinching a pair of second-placed finishes. The Thai driver now sits just one point away from the lead of the championship ahead of the final event at Sepang next month.

They were joined on the Round 10 podium by Lu Wei and Patrick Pilet, thanks to another strong showing in the #4 R&B Racing car, with Wei securing his fifth top-three finish of the season so far.

Bao Jinlong and Matteo Cairoli made it three Porsche entries in the top five in Race 2 in the Year of the Rabbit-liveried #992 car, with the result helping Absolute Racing leapfrog R&B Racing to the top of the Teams’ Championship.

Both HubAuto Racing crews returned to the points on the twisty Okayama track. Brian Lee and Hideto Yasuoka finished seventh after a solid drive in Race 1, while Morris Chen and Alvaro Parente repeated the result a day later in the #72 car.

NK Racing’s solid pace went unrewarded in their final event on home soil, as Kiyoshi Uchiyama and Tsubasa Kondo narrowly missed out on points on Saturday, claiming 11th.

On their season debut in the championship, the Earl Bamber Motorsport duo of Porsche Carrera Cup Asia racer Adrian Henry D’Silva and Team Owner Earl Bamber were also unable to break into the top-10, finishing the two races 16th and 15th respectively.

Coming into the weekend off the back of five consecutive points scores, Yuan Bo and Leo Ye were unable to continue the strong form they have shown all season, with an incident in Saturday’s race meaning the R&B Racing #87 entry was withdrawn the second event of the weekend.

In the GT3-Am category, AMAC Motorsport had a challenging weekend, being forced to retire in the first race and finishing fourth on Sunday. The Australian pairing of Andrew Macpherson and Ben Porter will be looking for a strong performance at the season finale in Sepang if they’re to retain their GT3-Am title.

Checkshop Caymania Racing took on an enlarged GT4 field in standalone races for the first time this season, taking fourth and fifth in the two races.

The Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia campaign comes to an end on September 22-24 at the Sepang International Circuit.

Hiroaki Nagai, Porsche Center Okazaki: “It’s a great feeling to be the champions of the Fanatec Japan Cup. I’m very proud of our performance this season, and delighted with the Porsche 911 GT3 R (Type 992). We’ll aim to round out the season in style at Sepang!”

Yuta Kamimura, Porsche Center Okazaki: “Clinching the 2023 Fanatec Japan Cup is the best moment of my racing career. I’m so happy to share this result with Porsche Center Okazaki, I’ve been racing with the team since 2019 and we’ve been on an amazing journey together. We’ll keep pushing for Sepang and try to finish the season with two more strong results.”

Alessio Picariello, AAS Motorsport by Absolute Racing: “A positive weekend for us, the goal was to take as many points as possible in both races, so to finish second twice was a very strong result. Vutthi is back in P2 in the championship, just one point behind the leader, so we’ll put in a big push at Sepang! I’m very happy with our performance overall, the car was great and the team did an amazing job.”

Matteo Cairoli, Absolute Racing: “It wasn’t a straightforward weekend at Okayama, I had to get used to the track, and found it tough to acclimatise. However, I enjoyed the challenge and I’m happy we were able to secure points in Race 2. The target was a podium, but P5 is still a solid result and we have another chance at Sepang to challenge for the top-three.”

Lu Wei, R&B Racing: “I’m very happy to return to the podium again, although I felt we had the potential for more. I’m excited for the final event of the season next month at Sepang and I’m hoping for a strong performance in Malaysia.”

Patrick Pilet, R&B Racing: “We rebounded well after a tough day on Saturday to claim a podium in Round 10. It wasn’t an easy race after starting further back then we hoped for, but a very fun one! Wei drove extremely well and I’m very thankful to the team for giving us a car capable of a podium.”

Leo Ye, R&B Racing: “Saturday’s incident was an unfortunate one, but we’re happy Yuan was able to walk away, that’s the main thing. We solved some of the issues we’ve been having in the past few rounds and showed very good speed, but these things can happen in motorsport. We’ll look to bounce back at Sepang and finish the campaign strongly.”

Yuan Bo, R&B Racing: “I’ve been thinking a lot after the incident on Saturday, and I have to thank Porsche for giving us such a safe car. We’ll fix up the car and be ready to come back stronger at Sepang!”

Andrew Macpherson, AMAC Motorsport: “Our last Japanese round of 2023 and at a track we love in Okayama. It’s very different to the likes of Fuji and Suzuka, but no less enjoyable. Unfortunately we were involved in a couple of incidents which affected both results, but we’re still looking forward to doing our best in the last round at Sepang. Excited to return to Japan next year!”

Alexandre Gibot, Managing Director Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific Ltd.: “It has been a thrilling Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia campaign for our customers so far, and this weekend was no different. We were delighted to see Porsche Center Okazaki continue their dominant performance and take the Fanatec Japan Cup! Our congratulations to the entire team! It was also fantastic to have our customers on both GT3 podiums – the Porsche 911 GT3 R has shown brilliant speed this season and we’re now looking forward to what promises to be a very exciting finale at Sepang next month.”