17/12/2025
๐๐๐ฑ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ด ๐๐ ๐ฆ ๐๐ง๐ฏ
Two back-to-back 12-hour races rounded off the GT3 racing season, the first of which took place in Asia. A strong comeback drive from Continental Racing by Simpson Motorsport netted the team third overall with an Audi R8 LMS (pictured) in the 12h Malaysia endurance race at the Sepang Circuit โ the season opener of the 2025โ2026 24H Series Middle East Trophy. After starting from the pitlane, the driver quartet of Alexander Bukhantsov, Damian Ciosek, Vasily Vladykin and James Winslow pushed hard and moved up through the field in a race that was run under green-flag conditions for almost its entire 12-hour duration. In the end, they finished third overall and second in the Am class. One week later, the Haas RT team celebrated a podium result in the Gulf 12 Hours at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. After having led the Pro-Am class during the first part of the race, the Belgian outfit lost time in the pits at the beginning of the seventh hour. Once they got going again, the driver trio of Simon Balcaen, Peter Guelinckx and Steven Palette continued running strongly during the remaining six hours and moved back up to and finished third in class. In South Africa, Gianni Giannoccaro took an overall victory and a third place in the opening two SA GT Super Trophy (Saesracing) races that were held as part of the Nine Hours of Kyalami Grand Prix Circuitโs supporting program. Giannoccaro was behind the wheel of an Audi R8 LMS from BISC Transport Racing run by Stradale Motorsport. The GT3 results were rounded off by the 326 Racing Team winning the four-hour China Endurance Championship season finale in Tianjin. This secured the GT3 Am driversโ title for Wu Yifan and Liu Zichen, while 326 Racing won the teamsโ title. Liu Zichen was also crowned as the winner of the 2025 Audi Sport Asia Trophy, the season-long competition open to all Audi privateers in the region. A total of 88 drivers earned points towards the sixth edition of this annual contest. Competing for the 326 Racing Team in GT3 and TCR racing throughout the year, Liu Zichen scored a total of 5,985 points to take home the prize money and trophy. His teammate Wu Yifan finished runner-up in the classification, while the Malaysian duo of Haziq Oh and Aaron Lim from B-Quik Absolute Racing (B-Quik Racing) took a joint third place.
๐ธ: Nico Mombaerts