Absolute Racing have confirmed Yuan Bo and Leo Ye Hongli as their first GT World Challenge Asia driver pairing for 2020.
The Chinese duo are reprising the Silver Cup partnership that began at Suzuka last season. Three podiums, including victory on home soil at Shanghai, helped them finish eighth and ninth in the final overall standings and contributed towards Absolute’s Teams’ title success.
Indeed, Absolute’s three Porsches – which included the Panther/AAS Motorsport example – won five of 2019’s 12 races, while Vutthikorn Inthraphuvasak, Tanart Sathienthirakul and Philip Hamprecht finished second and third in the Drivers’ Championship.
Bo, whose entry is supported by Ivory Bay, is confident of mounting a sustained Silver Cup title challenge in 2020 after claiming two class wins last season.
“I’m looking forward to the upcoming season with Absolute Racing and my team-mate, Leo,” he said. “The first year, everything was new, so we have a big advantage now going into the second season. Myself and Leo are under no illusion of how tough it’s going to be, but the more I drive in top-level competition the more I learn and improve.”
His compatriot agreed that lessons learnt in 2019 would help the pair during the upcoming campaign.
“I’m very much looking forward to getting back behind the wheel,” he said. “It’s like starting again, we have the right car, the right team, the right team-mate and we’ll be flat-out to make the best of this amazing opportunity. What we learned in our first year is the foundation laid for this upcoming year.”
Team Director Fabien Fior added: “It’s shaping up to be another great year for Absolute Racing. We’re thrilled to be putting this package together with ‘Bob’, Leo and Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific. To be successful in this championship both drivers have to be able to get the very best from the package and they have both proven that they can do it.”
“It’s great to have both Yuan Bo and Leo Ye Hongli back for a second year racing with the Porsche 911 GT3 R, especially after ending the 2019 season on a high with a victory at their home race,” said Alex Gibot, Head of Porsche Motorsport Asia-Pacific. “We’re maintaining a strong partnership with Yuan who has moved across from Porsche Carrera Cup Asia to GT3 racing, so it’s good to see this long-term association continue. Both drivers had a strong campaign last year and we are confident they can achieve even more in 2020.”
Absolute Racing are expected to confirm further GT World Challenge Asia entries in the coming weeks ahead of the championship’s season opener at Sepang on March 28/29.