The 5th and 6th round of the Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia, which was won last year by Estonian circuit racer Martin Rump, took place at Suzuka International Circuit in Japan last weekend. Again this year, the No. 12 Audi Sport Asia Team Absolute car driven by Rump and his co-driver Weiron Tan showed fast pace throughout the weekend. An accident in the first race on Thursday sidelined the Rump/Tan squad for the second practice session, but the No. 12 Audi was back on the pace on Friday. Rump set the second fastest time, losing only +0.027 seconds to the first. The No. 12 squad, which had to sit out Thursday's test due to a mishap, nevertheless managed to get the car in good shape by the end of the day.
In the early Saturday morning qualifying, Rump was back in the swing of things, taking first place on the grid with the best lap time for the afternoon race. Weiron Tan's luck was not in his favour, as he could only manage 15th in the second qualifying session.
In the first race, Rump showed a real masterclass. Able to fend off all attacks at the start, the Estonian held his position unmistakably and increased his lead with every lap. By the start of the eighth lap, the gap had stretched to 6.52 seconds when the Estonian was struck by bad luck. On the starting grid, the pressure on the right rear tyre started to drop. Rump managed to complete another full lap on a deflated tyre, but a lap later the deflated rear tyre ran off the wheel and the No.12 Audi was forced to make an emergency pit stop. Rump, who had been given a spare tyre, did his best to make up the time lost in the pits when the gap to the leader had accumulated to over 30 seconds. By the time of the emergency pit stop, the gap had been reduced by a third and Tan, who took over, returned to the track in 9th place. The Malaysian, who was in a spot fight, managed to hold on to the points with just two laps to go. Niederhauser's manoeuvre dropped the No. 12 Audi to eleventh, where it finished.
The 6th stage on Sunday started from 15th place. Tan, who had been gaining places in the starting grid, managed to move up to the top ten, but dropped to 16th by the end of the first lap when a driving mistake in the penultimate corner forced him to leave the track for a moment. Tan, who still lost a place a lap later, managed to climb back to 15th by the time the pit stop came around, despite a difficult start to the race. The Estonian, who took over the second shift, was on the way up. By the time the safety car came on track on lap 17, Rump had climbed to 8th. A scramble in the restart after the safety car saw the Estonian manage to climb up to fifth, where he finished, losing just 1.132s to the leader. In his class, this meant third place on the podium.
The next competition of the season will take place on 5-7. July 5 and 6 will be held in Japan, when the 7th and 8th rounds of the Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia will be held at Fuji International Circuit.
