Street Showdown. Seven Title-Contending Lineups Converge on Beijing for GT World Challenge Asia Season Finale

BEIJING, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 16 October 2025 – This weekend, the 2025 Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS heads to Beijing for its season-ending showdown, where seven driver lineups will battle on the Chinese capital’s streets for the overall drivers’ championship—a record-equalling number of title contenders in series history!

Following 12 thrilling races across Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Japan, the championship finale will feature two 60-minute races. Notably, this Beijing round marks the first time GT World Challenge Asia has held a street race, with a purpose-built circuit designed exclusively for this event.

The Beijing street circuit, designed by Apex Circuit Design Ltd, spans 4.9 kilometers and features 12 corners. Located in the scenic Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (BDA), the track winds through modern architecture and alongside Tongming Lake Park, utilizing public roads and urban expressways temporarily converted for racing.

A total of 24 cars will take to the grid, with 25 drivers from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan competing on home soil. Among them, eight Chinese drivers remain in contention for the overall championship.

Defending GT World Challenge Asia champions Yuan Bo and Ye Hongli enter the finale as clear favorites, holding a 14-point lead over their Origine Motorsport teammate Lü Wei. Prince Jefri Ibrahim of JMR sits just one point further back, 15 points off the lead.

Other title contenders include 2023 series champion Liu Xu and his Phantom Global Racing teammate Dorian Boccolacci; Cheng Congfu and Yu Kuai of FAW Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom, who lead the Silver Cup standings; Ruan Cunfan and Maxime Oosten of KRC, who are on the verge of clinching the Silver-Am title; and Cao Qi from Craft-Bamboo Racing—all of whom retain mathematical chances of claiming the overall crown.

However, Yuan and Ye will start Saturday’s opening race from 10 grid positions further back due to a penalty—a significant variable that could inject major uncertainty into the first race and open the door for their rivals.

Adding star power to the home lineup is Ye Yifei, Ferrari driver and winner of the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans, who returns to Harmony Racing for this event. He joins fellow local talents Deng Yi (Winhere Harmony Racing), Liang Jiatong (Craft-Bamboo Racing), and Uno Racing’s Rio and Tang Weifeng—all still in mathematical contention for the Silver Cup.

In the Silver-Am class, Japan’s Yu Kanamaru (5ZIGEN) remains the only driver capable of challenging Ruan and Oosten’s dominance, though he trails by 36 points. With a maximum of 50 points available across the weekend’s two races, an upset remains theoretically possible but highly improbable.

In the Am class, Indonesian driver David Tjiptobiantoro and his teammate Christian Colombo have already secured a commanding lead. Their only remaining challengers—Ben Porter (AMAC Motorsport) and Setiawan Santoso (Earl Bamber Motorsport, or EBM)—must overcome deficits of 38 and 40 points respectively, and would also need Garage 75’s Ferrari entry to suffer a major setback during the weekend.

It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time an SRO-sanctioned championship has visited a Chinese street circuit. Between 1994 and 1995, the BPR Global GT Series used temporary public roads in Zhuhai before moving to the newly built Zhuhai International Circuit. In 2011, the FIA GT1 World Championship also held a demonstration event outside Beijing’s iconic “Bird’s Nest” National Stadium.

GT World Challenge Asia has previously visited permanent circuits in China, including Shanghai International Circuit, Ningbo International Circuit, and Zhejiang International Circuit. This weekend’s Beijing event will run alongside the SRO GT Cup—a new domestic series for Chinese GT4 teams—which will stage its penultimate round concurrently.

All sessions, including qualifying and both 60-minute races, will be streamed live globally via SRO’s official “GT World” YouTube channel. Additionally, China Central Television (CCTV) will broadcast Sunday’s second race live nationwide.

Beijing Round Schedule

Friday, October 17
09:00 – 10:00 Official Test Session 1
12:50 – 13:50 Official Test Session 2
15:25 – 16:25 Official Practice
16:30 – 17:00 Bronze Driver Practice

Saturday, October 18
09:00 – 10:00 Pre-Qualifying Session
12:20 – 12:35 Qualifying Session 1
12:42 – 12:57 Qualifying Session 2
16:15 – 17:15 Race 1

Sunday, October 19
15:05 – 16:05 Race 2
Hashtag: #2025FanatecGTWorldChallengeAsia

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