Craft Bamboo chasing ouright championship leads in GT Asia

After a small break, the GT Asia Series has made its way from Japan and headed to the Sepang International Circuit for round seven of the season. The special three hour endurance event will be held on Saturday after a combined qualifying session and offers up double points this weekend. Both Craft-Bamboo Racing Aston Martins will be fighting hard in a bid to continue their charge to the very top of the leaderboards in both the drivers’ and teams’ championship.

Darryl O’Young is currently tied for the top spot in the drivers’ championship and will be concentrating on taking another strong result, with new teammate, Daniel Lloyd, that will allow him to capture the lead and separate himself from the competition. With double points up for grabs, a haul of championship points is just what the #99 pair needs to create a gap at this crucial part in the season. While Sepang is familiar to O’Young, new teammate, Lloyd, has yet to drive the circuit and will be concentrated on learning and developing a rhythm so he can secure a quick qualifying lap.

Unfortunately, during the break, Jonathan Venter, was injured in a cycling accident and suffered a dislocated and fractured hip which required surgery. This has ruled the young Australian out for the rest of the season while he recovers. He has been replaced by, Daniel Lloyd, also an Aston Martin Evolution Academy member who has experience behind the wheel of the GT3 Aston Martin in the Blancpain Endurance Series and British GT Series.

The #88 sister car of Richard Lyons and Frank Yu are focused on using this round to their advantage after some unlucky contact prevented them from being able to challenge for any top results in Fuji. No strangers to the famous Malaysian circuit, the pair will be mounting a championship resurgence this weekend and will be ones to look out for as both drivers have proven on multiple occasions that they are capable of podium results. A smooth weekend is what the #88 car is looking for so they can maximize this round’s points haul and climb their way back up towards the top of the standings.

Practice for the seventh round of the GT Asia Series will begin on Friday, September 4th. Qualifying one will be held on Saturday, September 5th, 09:00-09:15, with qualifying two running from 09:25-09:40. The Sepang Three Hour will be held on Saturday afternoon; from 15:00-18:00 (local time GMT +8). Live streaming of the event will be available from the GT Asia Series YouTube page, https://www.youtube.com/user/afosTV.

“We are really happy to have Daniel Lloyd join #99 as he is a promising driver from the AMR Evolution Academy. He knows the car well and should be able to adapt quickly which is very important for the team as he joins us mid-season” said O'Young

“I think the Sepang Three Hours is going to be quite a decisive round in the championship. Any time you have a double points race it is something that is really important and we are going to have to do all the preparation we can to ensure we get a good result. The team is doing a big re-prep before the weekend and I think Daniel and I are ready for the challenge and we are going to try and move up to championship leader at the end of this race.”

'New boy' Daniel Lloyd said “I think the main focus this weekend is to get settled with the team as soon as possible and come away with some good strong points. For me it's just important to do a solid job, show my pace and keep out of trouble. I've heard great things about the GT Asia championship so I'm certainly not underestimating anything. On a more personal note I'm so excited for it; the circuit was awesome on the simulator so I can't wait to experience it in real life now!”

Source material - Craft Bamboo Racing