The inaugural Blancpain GT Series Asia drew to a close at the weekend (13-15 October) at the new Zhejiang Circuit and for Devon Modell and Craft-Bamboo Racing, the final two races of the season proved to be successful as he added his third podium of the year to his already impressive 2017 CV.
“It was a great race,” Devon stated after Sunday’s second event. “It was really tough and there were times out there when I didn’t even know what position I was in. The conditions made it difficult obviously but compared to Saturday they were so much better and we could get the result today. A big thank you to Craft-Bamboo Racing for what has been a great season of racing!”
With teammate Nick Foster on driving duties elsewhere, Devon was joined behind the wheel of the #88 Porsche 991 GT3R by Australian Carrera Cup regular Andre Heimgartner, and a solid partnership it proved to be.
The opening qualifying session of the weekend saw Devon record the sixth best time overall which put him in a strong position for race one. However, with weather conditions deteriorating, his new teammate lost ground in the closing laps to finish in ninth place. It was the second race that saw Devon and Heimgartner really shine.
Held in even wetter conditions, Heimgartner lined up 11th and following the safety car period was able to make progress. Heimgartner made swift work the of the #16 Audi, #1 Lamborghini and #888 Mercedes, the latter with a great pass around the outside into the first turn. The progress continued as he cleared the #13 Audi and latched onto the back of the next car in the line.
With 27 minutes remaining, Heimgartner pitted and after the mandatory 95-second hold, Devon was back into the race, quickly moving up to third ahead of the #7 and closing down the gap to the #86 Audi of Aditya Patel ahead who in turn was closing on the #18 Audi for the lead.
The final laps saw the pressure take its toll with the #18 spinning out from the lead, re-joining ahead of Modell who quickly made a move to pass Rick Yoon for position to run second. Devon then reduced the gap to the race leader to just 2.5 seconds as the chequered flag flew.
“It was a fightback after the start,” Devon’s teammate Heimgartner said. “We passed lots of cars and it was good fun. Credit to Devon for a good job and to Craft-Bamboo Racing.”
With three second positions from ten rounds, Devon finished his season in Blancpain GT Series Asia sixth in the Silver standings as he now starts preparations for his 2018 campaign…