The last-minute participation of Joel Camathias at Sepang, Malaysia in the inaugural round of the newly-launched Blancpain GT Series Asia, ended with seventh place in both races of the event. The Swiss, who this year will contest the European Le Mans Series, was called in by stalwart Craft Bamboo Racing squad to drive the Apex Porsche 911 R GT3 together with Frenchman Jules Gounon.
After having learnt the track during the practice and qualifying sessions, held with very changing weather conditions that made difficult setting up the car, Joel and his young team mate finished 7th in Race 1 on Saturday, after fighting for the top positions with much faster cars.
In Race-2 on Sunday, same result but different screenplay, with the Porsche duo catching up positions throughout the race to finish again 7th and again behind the same faster rivals.
Joel Camathias:
“It has been an intense and not easy weekend, but very interesting and positive. I liked Sepang a lot, it’s a nice circuit to drive, even if the frequent showers in the first two days have somehow disturbed our setting-up work. It was clear from the beginning that the Porsche did not have a favorable Balance of Performance, and there is little we could do against the faster cars, basically the same six, as proven by lap times and gaps. In Race-1, the long safety-car period at the beginning, has partially mitigated the disadvantage and we were among the frontrunners after the pit stop, but it was impossible to maintain the position. In Race-2, we started from the second half of the grid but we have been able to climb up positions to finish again 7th, behind the same top cars. The positive note is that we gave everything and achieved the best we could do. We did two nice and closely-fought races, and the team did a great job, technically speaking but also in terms of strategy and pit stops. To work with such a professional team as Craft Bamboo Racing has been a real pleasure and overall, this has been a very nice experience to add to my record.”
