PRESS RELEASE: 21st April 2024
Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia by AWS, Round 1 – Sepang, Malaysia
Pro-Am victory for Bian and Liberati as VSR and Lamborghini return to Asia
VSR’s Asian adventure kicked off with a double-header event at the Sepang Circuitin Malaysia this weekend. Bian and Liberati raced in the team’s number 6Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 with Zhou and Mapelli in charge of the 63 car. Bothcars competed in the Pro-Am class. A sister car, run under ANR with VSR, lined up
in Silver-Am with Mizutani and Nemoto driving.

#6 – Bian / Liberati: photo by Kako Photography

Saturday morning’s qualifying session saw the VSR Am drivers out first, setting thegrid for race 1. Bian qualified fourth in class with Zhou just behind him, sixth in ProAm. Mizutani was the tenth fastest Silver-Am car. The race start was delayed whena storm hit the track minutes before the cars were due to leave their garages leaving
the teams with a tough call to make on tyres. Bian and Mizutani started on wets
whilst Zhou, along with many of the front runners, opted for slicks. After two lapsbehind the Safety Car the race went green and Bian was quick to make the most of
his tyre choice, rocketing up from twelfth to second on the first lap of racing before
passing Cheng to take the lead on lap four. As Bian pulled away a collision between
Mizutani and Zhou delayed the 63 car and resulted in a Drive Through penalty for
the Japanese driver. A short Full Course Yellow to recover Liang’s Ferrari from thegravel didn’t delay Bian and by the time the pit window opened on lap ten he had ahealthy lead. Zhou was the first of the VSR cars to stop, handing over to Mapelli, whocontinued on a circuit now better adapted to the car’s slick tyres. Mizutani pitted for
Nemoto and a lap later Bian stopped for Liberati, both cars fitting slick tyres. A delay

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in the stops lost the number 6 valuable seconds and when Liberati rejoined on coldtyres he was passed by Morad and Fong who had pitted a lap earlier. Fong was quick
to take advantage of a slow backmarker to wrest the lead from Morad and a lap later
Liberati followed him through to retake second and the Pro-Am lead. When thechequered flag fell the battling pair were covered by just two seconds but the win
went to Fong. Mapelli recovered to finish ninth in Pro-Am and Nemoto took the flag
tenth in Silver-Am.

#63 – Zhou / Mapelli: photo by Kako Photography

Mapelli lined up eighth in Pro-Am for race 2 after losing his best lap to a track limits
infringement. Liberati was tenth fastest in the class whilst Nemoto sat out the session
hampered by a technical issue and was forced to start from the back of the grid.
Mapelli made a great start but had to back off to avoid a spinning car in turn one
and the two VSR cars completed the first lap in sixteenth and seventeenth places asNemoto gained nine spots in the ANR with VSR car. Mapelli soon settled into arhythm and moved up through the field to break into the top ten just as the pit
window opened on lap eleven. Nemoto, who passed the second half of his stint justbehind Liberati, was the first to stop whilst the two VSR cars pitted just as thewindow closed. Zhou showed great pace and made several passes to run sixth before
a Stop and Go penalty for an early release pushed him down the order. He took theflag eleventh in Pro-Am but further post-race penalties elevated him back to tenth inclass. Bian, who had to discount a ten second success penalty from the previous
day’s race, tangled with Uchiyama in the final minutes of the race and took the flageighth in class but later received a penalty for the collision and Mizutani bought theANR with VSR Lambo home eighth in Silver-Am.

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#563 – Mizutani / Nemoto: photo by Kako Photography

The GT World Challenge Asia Championship continues in three weeks time inBuriram but VSR will be back on track before then, for the opening round of theItalian GT Sprint Championship at Misano a fortnight from now.
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