GTWC Asia Cup starts with four consecutive wins! Team KRC wins double title again in Mandalika, Indonesia

News & Announcements Indonesia Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit May 14

From May 9 to 11, the GT World Challenge Asia Cup kicked off the second round of the season at the Mandalika International Circuit in Indonesia. Team KRC continued its strong momentum in the two rounds of the season opener on the new track. Gentleman driver Nguyen Cunfan and young Dutch driver Maxime Oosten drove the BMW M4 GT3 EVO car to defeat the opponent's defenses and won the Silver-Am category championship trophy again in two rounds, achieving four consecutive wins since the opening of this season!

The Mandalika International Circuit is located in Lombok, Indonesia. It is a world-class racing track that combines modern design and natural scenery. The track is 4.31 kilometers long and has 17 turns. It perfectly combines the sharpness of high-speed turns with the precise control of technical turns, which is extremely challenging for drivers. Since its opening in 2021, the Mandalika Circuit has become an important venue for international top events such as Moto GP and WSBK. Facing the new track that they visited for the first time, Ruan Cunfan and Maxime Oosten both went all out to quickly find the rhythm of the race.

In the official practice on Friday, the No. 89 car team made a personal fastest lap of 1:29.838, ranking first in the Silver-Am category. In the subsequent practice session for bronze drivers, Ruan Cunfan also seized the opportunity to find the right car tuning and settings, and finally ranked fourth in the group with a fastest lap of 1:31.291. The qualifying preliminaries in the afternoon changed suddenly. Due to the sudden change in weather, the track conditions deteriorated sharply and the race was interrupted by a red flag. The No. 89 car group failed to achieve a significant breakthrough and only achieved a fastest lap of 1:30.903. However, the stable mileage accumulation before the qualifying on Saturday still laid a solid foundation for the excellent performance of the two drivers in the two rounds of the race.

In the two qualifying sessions on Saturday, the No. 89 car ranked sixth and third in the Silver-Am category, which means that the two drivers will start from the most challenging mid-field position in the starting stage. However, in terms of lap time, despite being restricted by the track boundary, Maxime Oosten still made a breakthrough and made the fastest lap of 1:28.849, which further explored the strength of the BMW M4 GT3 EVO car.

The first round of the finals started at 13:30 local time on Saturday afternoon. After two warm-up laps, the red light went out and the race officially began. After the start, Ruan Cunfan, who was the first to appear, kept a steady pace and shuttled among the cars. In less than two laps, he successfully improved by 3 positions. After that, the track accident caused the yellow flag and the safety car, and Ruan Cunfan was able to temporarily maintain the fourth position in the group. Shortly after the race was restarted, the rhythm of the race was once again disrupted by the yellow flag. Almost all the cars rushed into the maintenance area, making the efficiency of the maintenance area the key.

After the race restarted, Maxime Oosten took over and came to the tenth place in the whole field and the second place in the group. Afterwards, Maxime Oosten strongly surpassed the car in front to improve the overall ranking, and this overtaking was also crucial. The Dutch teenager has come behind his competitors in the same group and is ready to attack the highest podium. After a few laps, Maxime Oosten found an opportunity to disintegrate the opponent's defense line and complete the overtaking to the leading position in the group. After that, Maxime Oosten crossed the finish line in a cruising position and successfully won the third victory of the season in the Silver-Am category.

The second round of the final was still exciting. The four cars in the front row collided while competing for position. Maxime Oosten avoided the hot spot of accidents with precise driving and maintained the second place in the group. In the subsequent race, although there were many accidents on the track, they did not have a large-scale impact on the competition pattern.

After completing the pit stop, Ruan Cunfan took over the BMW M4 GT3 EVO car handed over by his teammate and still maintained the second place in the group. Until the last lap of the race, after the safety car left the field, the front car drivers had a fierce fight. Ruan Cunfan avoided the accident area again and successfully rose to the leading position in the group at the last corner. The No. 89 car driven by Ruan Cunfan finished fourth in the whole field and welcomed the checkered flag of the Silver-Am group champion, achieving four consecutive victories since the opening of this season!

With the Mandalika station winning two championships again, Team KRC Racing has won four consecutive victories in the Silver-Am category of the GT World Challenge Asia Cup this season, showing its strong dominance, and will stride towards Buriram, Thailand, to prepare for the next race.