Last weekend saw 15 of the best sim racers in the region battle it out virtually over 3 challenging courses to be crowned the Gazoo Racing (GR) GT Cup Asia 2023 champion and in the end, Indonesia Andika Rama stood atop the podium after placing his odds on a bold strategy.

E-motorsports enthusiasts saw 15 local qualifiers from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand pit their driving skills for a spot in the regional finals that would go down the same day.

This years format saw a slight change that would see all regional finalists participate in a total of 3 races on the PlayStation’s "Gran Turismo 7" game. The first race took place on the legendary Mount Panorama circuit in Australia with the finalists piloting the GT Supra Gr.4. It started with a 5-minute time attack as qualifying before a 15-minute race completed the round.

The second race was held on the Tokyo Expressway – East Clockwise layout with Race 1's grid positions reversed using GR Corolla cars over a 25-minute race.

As for the final race, it lit up the legendary Spa Francorchamps racetrack with the finalists driving the GR010 Hybrid hypercars and utilised a 5-minute time attack qualifying round before a 35-minute race amidst dynamic weather.

Drivers earned points from each race as well as qualifying and setting the fastest lap during the race.

Also Read: Toyota Gazoo Racing GR GT Cup crowns champs; winner to represent Malaysia in world finals

In the end, Indonesia's Andika came out tops with a total of 65 points, followed by the Philippines' Luis Moreno on 52 points. Malaysian Dhanesh Wigneswaran and Singapore's Fadtris Isa drove well but several misjudgments in weather saw them drop down the table.

Following the regional finals, Andika and Luis will represent the region at the Global Finals, slated for November 2023 in Barcelona, Spain.

“I knew that my pace in the final race was not as good as Luis and Dhanesh, so even though it started to rain, the wetness on track was low, I gambled on another two laps with hard tires while everyone went to pit. I tried to manage my pace after pitting, and it paid off,” recounted Andika.

“We’re thrilled to see strong, continued support for the fourth edition of the Gazoo Racing GT Cup Asia. All racers displayed exceptional skills that were spectacularly demonstrated, even across the various racing conditions. We hope that GR Asia brought a thrilling evening of entertainment to e-motorsports fans around the region, particularly with our all-new race format and colorful livery designs displayed throughout the competition," said Jaja Ishibashi, General Manager at Toyota Motor Asia Pacific.

Singapore's Fadtris Isa secured pole position for the first race with Malaysians Taj Aiman and Dhanesh locking second and third position respectively, followed by Indonesians Benaya Theo and Andika Rama in fourth and fifth.

During the race, Aiman quickly shot past Isa but after pitting for a switch of tires from soft to medium however, Isa chased down Aiman to snatch the lead back in lap 6, spectacularly winning the first race with a 0.6 second lead ahead of Aiman with Wigneswaran shortly behind in third place. Aiman and Wigneswaran each served 3-second penalties, giving the podium finish for Race 1 to Fadtris, Andika and Ethan Yoh (Singapore).

Moving on to the second race on the Tokyo Expressway saw Benaya in pole due to the reversed grid. Nonetheless, the pit window saw huge changes in tyre and race strategies came into play, bringing Benaya to the fore. This saw him take the win ahead of Thailand’s Thanaphat Pungphat and Malaysia's Chong Kai Chang.

The competition concluded at the iconic Spa Francorchamps in Belgium. Drivers pushed their GR010 Hybrid hypercars to the limit given it was the last race. Luis took pole, closely followed by Dhanesh, Benaya, Fadtris and Andika.

It was eventful to say the least, with 9 of 15 racers racking up time penalties. Luis maintained a comfortable lead for the first few laps but the weather soon turned ugly, as the light drizzle soon turned into a monsoon-like downpour.

Tyre choice was crucial and then-championship leader Fadtris made the ultimately premature switch to intermediate tires. Many followed suit with the wrong tyre choice but eventual champion Andika held steady, staying out on the hard compound a little longer before coming in on Lap 8 and calmly finishing first.

The GR GT Cup Asia is the regional online race, which will bring together the top gamers from each of the participating countries in Asia to pit their skills against each other on the “Gran Turismo 7” game on their PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5 in a selected Toyota GR line-up.

You can catch a repeat of the action by clicking here.