A capacity grid of 33 GT3 cars will contest this year’s Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS campaign, which begins at Sepang next weekend (April 19-21).
Championship organiser, SRO Motorsports Group Asia, received more entries than it can comfortably accommodate on a full-season basis and has therefore based its selection process on quality over quantity. However, additional race-by-race entries may be able to enter later in the season.
This includes Fuji, which hosts the first SRO GT PowerTour event of the year on June 21-23 when Japan Cup joins Fanatec GT Asia. At least 50 GT cars are expected to compete across that weekend’s four one-hour races.
The Fanatec GT Asia list includes eight manufacturers, 23 teams and reigning champion Anthony Liu whose switch to Absolute Racing and Porsche was confirmed last Friday.
There are also 10 Silver-Am crews, a number second only to Pro-Am. The new class has proven popular elsewhere and joins the long-established Silver and Am classifications this year.
2024’s full driver roster will be revealed just prior to the season opener. Further races follow at Chang in Thailand, the three SRO GT PowerTour events at Fuji, Suzuka and Okayama, and Shanghai which has returned to the calendar for the first time since 2019.
Meanwhile, Japan Cup’s four-round campaign kicks off with a standalone event at Sugo on June 7-9 before staging its own races on the Fuji, Suzuka and Okayama Fanatec GT Asia weekends.
Benjamin Franassovici, SRO Motorsports Group Asia General Manager: “Japan Cup becoming a separate championship and removing GT4 from Fanatec GT Asia risked reducing the total number in our GT3-only series. In reality, demand has outstripped capacity. Three factors have contributed towards this: more new Chinese teams making the jump from domestic motorsport, some of our erstwhile Japan Cup competitors also looking beyond their border, and the influx of new Silver-Am pairings. It’s very encouraging and underlines the health of GT racing across Asia as well as the popularity of our customer platform.
“Indeed, we are expecting 50+ cars at Fuji where the Japan Cup and Fanatec GT Asia championships will race on the same weekend. All in all, 2024 promises to be our biggest year yet.”
