GT3 / 19 June 2023

Pole and podium for NSX GT3 Evo 22 in Virginia

Ashton Harrison and Mario Farnbacher continued their hunt for the GT World Challenge America Pro crown with pole position and a podium finish aboard their NSX GT3 Evo 22 at Virginia International Raceway on Sunday.

And with a pair of chaotic races confronting KCMG on their GT World Challenge Asia return in Japan, it proved quite the action-filled weekend for customer teams of the JAS Motorsport-built car.

 

GT World Challenge America

A storming Pro-class pole for Farnbacher on Saturday morning gave way to a commanding performance by the multiple IMSA GTD champion during the first half of Sunday's 90-minute race as he led the class convincingly.

He handed over to Harrison, who continued to lead, but was steadily reeled in by the chasing pack and had to cede the advantage as she fought oversteer from her car with just over 15 minutes to run.

Second place - and a fifth podium from eight races in 2023 - kept the duo second in the Pro standings and one point closer to the series lead than when they arrived.

 

They had fought for the win in Saturday's opener as well until two left-rear punctures put paid to their hopes and relegated them to sixth.

 

GT World Challenge Asia

KCMG began their season at Fuji, having missed the Sepang opener a month ago; Paul Ip and Edoardo Liberati coming home fourth in Sunday's chaotic second race aboard their NSX GT3 Evo 22.

Having started 15th in the Pro-Am class, Italian Liberati charged to 10th by the mid-race pitstops and handed driving duties to team owner Paul. While looking set for a solid top-10 finish, a succession of incidents for other cars allowed him to rapidly climb the order.

Fourth at the chequered flag was a just reward, though a post-race time penalty for a yellow-flag infringement dropped #22 to 16th in the final standings.

The opener had been altogether tougher. From 24th on the Pro-Am grid Ip suffered contact in the early lap that punctured a tyre. Following an unscheduled stop to replace it, he then served a drive-through for his role in the incident.

Those delays dropped the #22 NSX to 26th and last, but he and Liberati recovered to 22nd by the flag.

Both cars were competing as part of the NSX GT3 Customer Racing Programme; a global collaborative project with JAS Motorsport responsible for assembly of all cars.
 
Honda Performance Development (HPD) and M-TEC handle sales and technical support in North America and Japan respectively, with JAS responsible for these areas across the rest of the world.