- #86 OD Racing Audi [Copyright: Blancpain GT Series Asia]

Blancpain GT Asia: Patel/Gilbert has double Top 10 class results at Fuji

It wasn't a great weekend for the team but they salvaged points results.

Darshan Chokhani posted in Motorsport India & World

3y ago

2.2K

Aditya Patel and Mitch Gilbert started Round 4 of the 2018 Blancpain GT Asia Series at Fuji finishing 18th and sixth overall in the two practice sessions on Friday, whereas they were sixth in Silver class in FP1 but topped the class in FP2 in their #86 OD Racing Team WRT Audi R8 LMS GT3 car.

In the final practice on Saturday, they were 19th overall and seventh in class. The Qualifying 1 had Gilbert behind the wheel as he crossed the line in 11th overall. However, he was penalized for overtaking under the yellow flags and so his quickest lap was removed.

He was classified 13th overall and ninth in class as the #23 KCMG Nissan of Edoardo Liberati and Florian Strauss took pole. The Qualifying 2 with Patel saw the Indian struggle hugely to only be 23rd overall and 10th in class with #18 KCMG Nissan's Alexandre Imperatori & Yuke Taniguchi on pole.

Race 1

It was a great start from Gilbert in Race 1 on Saturday as he moved from 13th to ninth in the opening lap, defending hard from the #8 ARN Racing Ferrari’s Hiroaki Nagai. He held the place for the opening few laps but Nagai was able to clear Gilbert for ninth.

Gilbert then couldn’t get past Nagai until the pit window opened where he dived in to hand the car to Patel, who came out in 11th position – the team losing a place in the pits. The Indian moved one place after a puncture to the #63 Ferrari which forced it to pit.

Patel then cleared the #8 Ferrari of Kote Sasaki. Once Sasaki dropped out, the Indian had the #28 Ferrari of Davide Rigon was tucked on his tail and he eventually made his move to push the Indian to 10th where he would finish overall – he was eighth in class.

At the front, the #18 KCMG Nissan took the victory from the #27 HubAuto Ferrari’s Jono Lester and Nick Foster and #23 Nissan of Liberati and Strauss.

Race 2

It was a steady start from Patel in Race 2 on Sunday as he was stuck in 23rd all his stint while defending from #51 Lamborghini for track position - the Indian was finding it tough this weekend as he couldn't make many overtaking moves.

He eventually pitted to hand over the car to Gilbert as he immediately started to make up places with the aide of some penalties and retirements. The Australian-Malaysian eventually finished 16th overall and was eighth in class.

In a fiesty race up front, the #999 GruppeM Mercedes' Patric Niederhauser & Nico Bastian won the race from sister #888 car of Pro-Am class with Raffaele Marchielo & Alexander Mattschull. Third went to #63 FFF Racing Lamborghini's Hiroshi Hamaguchi & Marco Mapelli.

After four rounds, Neiderhauser leads the overall drivers' standings with Patel and Gilbert in 19th with 20 points. The OD Racing pair sits 10th in the Silver class with 50 points as they head to China for Round 5 during September 22-23 weekend.