Earl Bamber Motorsport (EBM) will make its championship debut in the season opener Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS in Malaysia.
Led by 24 Hours of Le Mans and 24 Hours of Spa winner Earl Bamber, the 2021 Thailand Super Series champions will compete in the six rounds of the Pro-Am category with the #8 EBM Giga Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R. Indonesian racer Setiawan Santoso will make his GT3 debut at Sepang and will be joined by New Zealander Reid Harker, who previously drove for the team at last year’s TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa.
For the opening round, the team will compete in a second Porsche 911 GT3 R. 2017 World Endurance Championship winner Bamber will team up with Malaysian driver Adrian D’Silva, who has previously raced for the team in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia.
The 2019 Am class champions AMAC Motorsport will also return for an all-out assault on the series as the Australian outfit looks set to defend their title with drivers Andrew Macpherson and Ben Porter taking the wheel of the #51 Porsche 911 GT3 R (991 ) to take over. In addition to their permanent crew, Porsche engineer and manager Matt Harvey will also join the team. Australians Macpherson and Porter also drove Porsche for AMAC Motorsport during the Suzuka 10 Hours in 2019.
The 2022 series will kick off May 20-22 in Sepang before moving to Japan for four rounds, with the season finale at Indonesia’s newly built Mandalika International Street Circuit.
Reid Harker, #8 EBM Giga Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R: “I am very excited to be racing in Asia again with Earl Bamber Motorsport. I’ll be teaming up with Setiawan Santoso and it will be our first race together in the Porsche 911 GT3 R. It’s been a long time, so it’s refreshing to be doing some laps here in Asia again. The whole EBM squad is looking forward to racing here again!”
Andrew MacPherson, #51 AMAC Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R: “I am really looking forward to catching up with all our friends up and down the paddock, as well as visiting some of our favorite tracks and experiencing new ones such as Sugo, Okayama and Mandalika for the first time.
“AMAC Motorsport has a long history with Porsche in Australia dating back to 2013 – well beyond the 991 generation car we are racing this year. Now we look forward to the challenge of using that model in another region. Led by former Porsche mechanic Steve Bugatto and with the continued support of the Porsche family, we firmly believe that we can match the current generation of cars and are eagerly looking forward to the opening round.”
Ben Porter, #51 AMAC Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R: “It’s great to be racing in Asia again, and I’m really excited to take on Sepang in our Porsche 911 GT3 R. The competition will be tough, but it should be great fun. Andrew and I have had success in this championship before, so we aim to repeat that this year.”
Alexandre Gibot, Managing Director Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific: “I am looking forward to the return of GT World Challenge Asia this weekend in Sepang. Porsche had an excellent season the last time the series ran in 2019 and won the GT3 Team Championship, so I can’t wait to see more action this year. Good luck to EBM Giga Racing and AMAC Motorsport this weekend and I will be keeping a close eye on the upcoming season!”
Timetable:
thursday 19 may
12:00 – 13:55: Trial 1
16:00 – 17:55: Taste 2
Friday 20 May
11:00 – 12:00: free practice
15:30 – 17:00: official training & 30min bronze test
Saturday 21 May
11:27 – 11:42: Qualification 1
11:49 – 12:04: Qualifying 2
15:15 – 16:15: Race 1
sunday 22 may
12:00 – 13:00: Race 2
images © GT World Challenge Asia, GT World Challenge Australia