Team iRace.Win has doubled its Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia GT4 entry by adding a second Mercedes-AMG. Ringo Chong returns with new co-driver Setiawan ‘Johannes’ Santoso, while Naomi Zhang and Alan Yeo join forces in the second car.
Chong and the team finished third in last season’s GT4 Drivers’ standings courtesy of one win and a further seven podiums from 12 races. That was one place better than he managed in 2017 when racing a HubAuto-prepared Porsche. He also remains the only driver to have claimed a GT4 class victory in each of the championship’s two seasons to date.
The Singaporean is also a regular fixture in Ferrari Challenge Asia Pacific where he shared Denker Group’s garage with new full-season co-driver Santoso throughout 2018. The Indonesian makes his Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia debut this year after finishing eighth in the Coppa Shell standings.
Chong has raced all over Asia but is especially excited to be competing in the continent’s biggest multi-class GT series for a third season.
“I feel super happy to be back with Team iRace.Win and their Mercedes-AMG GT4 contesting the pinnacle of GT racing in Asia,” he said. “This year I’m racing with a new co-driver, Setiawan, who I know from our time together last year. Sharing a car will be new for him but we are already working together in order to be ready for Sepang.
“I’m really looking forward to this year’s races in different countries, the travel, good food, great company and – most important of all – competing against the best drivers from all over the world in this series.”
Meanwhile, Zhang makes her full-season debut after becoming one of the first women to race in Blancpain GT Series Asia, as it was previously known, during a one-off outing at Ningbo in 2018. She has also competed in the Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup, Ferrari Challenge Asia Pacific and GT Masters Asia championships.
Her co-driver, Yeo, returns to the championship after contesting the very first Blancpain GT Series Asia round in 2017 with HubAuto Racing. He has also appeared in Ferrari Challenge Asia Pacific and the Asian Le Mans Series.
The 2019 campaign begins at Sepang in Malaysia on April 6/7.