Shanghai Finale Attracts 19 Cars; Heinrich Rejoins Lu

Photo: GT World Challenge Asia

A 19-car entry list has been published for this weekend’s final round of the GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS season at Shanghai, as Laurin Heinrich returns to bolster the championship bid of points leader Lu Wei.

The grid for the championship’s first visit to China’s predominant international circuit since 2024, which was originally slated for earlier in the year before being moved to the season finale slot, matches that of the Beijing street circuit earlier this month.

While the roster of cars is identical to that of the Beijing round, there are several noteworthy changes to the driver lineups for the pair of one-hour races on Oct. 30-Nov. 1 that will determine the identity of this year’s title winners.

After skipping Beijing, Porsche factory star Heinrich is back for his third outing of the season alongside Lu in Origine Motorsport’s No. 11 911 GT3 R Evo.

Loek Hartog stepped in for Heinrich for the previous round, but the Dutch driver remains on the grid as he pairs up with Anthony Liu at fellow Porsche team Phantom Global Racing, having previously done so earlier in the year at Mandalika.

It means Hartog will return to the scene of his heroic act that helped save the life of Ollie Millroy earlier this year in the China GT Championship.

Elsewhere in the Porsche stable, Absolute Racing’s No. 918 entry has its third entirely fresh lineup in as many rounds, as Alessio Picariello — who partnered Lu at Origine earlier in the year — pairs up with British GT regular Kevin Tse.

Two other fresh faces are BMW works pilot Tim Tramnitz, who becomes the latest partner to ‘Tony’ Ruan Cunfan in Team KRC’s No. 89 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, and Melvin Moh, who links up with Liang Jiatong in Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

Chen Weian also returns to his regular Harmony Racing Ferrari seat after skipping Beijing, where SUPER GT driver Takuro Shinohara deputized for him alongside Liu Kaishun.

After suffering a DNF and scoring a second-place finish last time out, Lu heads to Shanghai with a slender five-point buffer over No. 911 Absolute Porsche duo Huang Ruohan and Alessandro Ghiretti, who won the second Beijing race.

Audi Sport Asia pair Yu Kuai and Cheng Congfu will need a major turnaround to win the title as they trail by 26 points, with 50 on offer, while Phantom Global’s Liu and Harmony Racing’s Liu are 28 and 29 points back respectively.

In Silver Cup, Yu and Cheng are defending a seven-point lead over Liu Kaishun, while in Silver-Am, ten points split leaders Maxime Oosten and Brian Lee (Team KRC BMW) and nearest challenger Liang.

Climax Racing Mercedes-AMG pair Setiawan Santoso and Zhou Bihuang meanwhile hold a 12-point lead in Am over Origine Porsche duo Liu Hangcheng and Wang Zhongwei.

After a paid test on Friday morning, official track action continues that day with official practice and pre-qualifying, ahead of qualifying proper on Saturday morning.

The first one-hour race is scheduled for Saturday at 12:50 p.m. local time (12:50 a.m. EST), with the curtain closer slated for 1:05 p.m. on Sunday (12:05 a.m. ET).

Source: Sports Car 365