ANOTHER WEEK, ANOTHER CHAMPIONSHIP

The Bentley Continental GT3 claimed another significant milestone last weekend as Bentley Team Absolute secured the GT Asia Series teams’ title. Developed in conjunction with Bentley and M-Sport, the Continental GT3 has now secured two major titles in only its second year of competition.

Winning the teams’ series in their debut year with the Continental GT3, Bentley Team Absolute also secured second place in the drivers’ standings and a lights-to-flag victory at the final rounds hosted by Thailand’s Chang International Circuit.

In the first race, former Bentley M-Sport driver Duncan Tappy put Car #77 on pole alongside new team-mate Benny Simonsen. Taking control of the race, the pairing led home a commanding victory with a 10-second advantage at the chequered flag.

Fighting for the drivers’ title, Adderly Fong and Keita Sawa dropped position at the start of the first race but affected a sensational comeback. Finishing in third place, the Car #8 pairing found themselves on equal points at the head of the standings with just one deciding race to go.

It looked good for the Chinese-Japanese duo – Fong starting the final race from pole. Unfortunately it was not to be. Losing out to their championship rival at the start, the duo also had to endure a four second pit-stop penalty for their podium finish on the previous race.

Despite ending the final race of the season with another podium, third place was not enough to clinch the drivers’ title and they had to settle for the runner-up spot.

Fong and Sawa may have missed out, but the teams’ title belonged to Bentley.

With all three Bentley Team Absolute Continental GT3s finishing the final race of the season in the top-ten – Sawa third, Tappy fourth and Car #7 of Jeffrey Lee and Alexandre Imperatori crossing the line in eighth – the Bentley M-Sport racer secured it’s second major title of the year.

M-Sport Race Manager, Matthew Wilson, said:

“Congratulations to our friends at Bentley Team Absolute for what has been an absolutely fantastic season. This was their first season with the Bentley Continental GT3 and it’s great to see them yielding so much success at such an early stage of their collaboration with Bentley and M-Sport.

“The Continental GT3 has now claimed two major titles on two continents. This is only our second full year racing and I’m immensely proud of everything the racing team has achieved here at M-Sport. We have aided in the production of a winning car, and our motivation is higher than ever going into next season.”