Porsche secured double GT3 podium finishes in both races, along with GT3-Am and GT4 victories as Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS visited Fuji International Speedway for Rounds 3 and 4 of the 2023 campaign.

Absolute Racing’s Alessio Picariello and Vutthikorn Inthraphuvasak entered the weekend as championship leaders, and thanks to a second-place finish in Race 1, they maintained their advantage following the event.

The duo was joined on the podium by Lu Wei and Dennis Olsen, who secured third. The R&B Racing pair completed a strong weekend on Sunday, originally taking second before post-race penalties dropped them to third. Those rulings benefitted the #8 EBM Giga Racing entry of Reid Harker and Setiawan Santoso, who were awarded second after the race.

Reigning Am champions Andrew Macpherson and Ben Porter claimed second in the GT3-Am class in Race 1 for AMAC Motorsport as they look to win the title for the third campaign in a row at the wheel of the #51 Porsche 911 GT3 R (991.1).

Making their series debut, Checkshop Caymania Racing’s Sho Kobayashi and Naohiko Otsuka put in a strong showing on home ground to take GT4 victory in Race 2 aboard the #718 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport.

Yuan Bo and 2022 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia champion Leo Ye kept up their positive start to the season for R&B Racing with fourth place in the second race of the weekend, moving them up to fifth in the championship.

Following their series debut in Thailand last month, Tsubasa Kondo and Kiyoshi Uchiyama showed great pace in the #25 NK Racing car, qualifying strongly for Saturday’s event and scoring their first points in the championship with eighth.

Three-time Pro-Am Porsche Carrera Cup Asia champion and Swiss racer Alexandre Imperatori earned a points finish in Race 2 at the wheel of the Year of the Rabbit-liveried #992 Porsche 911 GT3 R (Type 992) with tenth.

Racing on home turf at a track where they secured a podium last year, Japanese pair Hiroaki Nagai and Yuta Kamimura were unable to repeat their performance for Porsche Center Okazaki, finishing 15th and 16th in the two races.

Finally, it was a tough weekend for HubAuto Racing, with neither Morris Chen and Alvaro Parente nor Brian Lee and Hideto Yasuoka able to claim points.

The series returns for Round 5 and 6 at Suzuka International Racing Course on 14-16 July.

Alessio Picariello, Absolute Racing: “This weekend had the potential to be an incredible one for us, so we leave Fuji a little frustrated with the results, although I’m happy with our performance. We’re still leading the championship and I’m looking forward to racing again at Suzuka next month.”

Bao Jinlong, Absolute Racing: "We were unlucky again this weekend. In Race 1, I was involved in another incident which knocked my confidence a bit. However, Race 2 went well and I focused on finishing safely. Overall, it was a good meeting and we hope for better next time out.”

Alexandre Imperatori, Absolute Racing: “It’s been another tough weekend for us, we didn’t get the best out of the car in qualifying, which makes the whole event difficult in a field this competitive. On Saturday, Bao was unfortunately involved in contact, but on Sunday we managed to stay clean and make our way forward in a very eventful race. Just finishing in the top-10 is not what we want, so we’ll continue working to solve the issues that have held us back so far. Thanks to the team for their efforts and dedication this weekend and we’ll look to fight back at Suzuka.”

Andrew Macpherson, AMAC Motorsport: “We had a strong start in Race 1, Ben and I both performed well to take second in the GT3-Am class in the biggest Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia field ever. Accumulating championship points at each event is key for our title challenge and after claiming third in Race 2, we currently sit second in the standings. We’ve got a brilliant crew and we’re very proud of everyone’s efforts and looking forward to the next round at the incredible Suzuka Circuit.”

Alexandre Gibot, Managing Director Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific Ltd.: It was amazing to have 11 Porsche entries on the grid this weekend. In terms of results, we had a good event, with P2 and P3 in both races, plus success in the GT3-Am and GT4 classes. It could have been more if not for some on track incidents, but we are satisfied with the performance of our customer teams. While Fuji was perhaps not the best track for us, we still managed well thanks to strong showings from the teams and drivers. We also leave in a good position in the championship, with Absolute Racing leading and three cars in the top five. The level of competition is really high right now, and we’re looking forward to Suzuka!”