You can’t talk about serious GT3 competition in Asia without mentioning Absolute Racing, one of the region’s leading teams campaigning Audi, Porsche and Bentley products in various Asian championships, the Zhuhai/Shanghai-based team have strong ties to both Europe and the USA, and bring a wealth of experience to the 2017 China GT Championship.
Founded in 2010, Absolute Racing have campaigned race winning cars in the one-make Audi R8 LMS Cup, Porsche Carrera Cup Asia, the GT Asia Series and the Formula Masters China Series development class for emerging young talent, more recently they’ve also been competing at the elite level in the USA in the Pirelli World Challenge, so when China GT emerged as the new standard for GT3 competition in China, there was little question in team-boss Ingo Matter’s mind, that he and co-team principal Fabien Fior would be involved.
What prompted you to join China GT full-time in 2017?
“We competed in one round last year at Shanghai, and it was fantastic, so being based in China, and with the strength of the market here, it was definitely the right way to go. What China needed was a professional series focusing on the Chinese market, so along with Bentley and our partners, we made the decision to focus our efforts in helping China GT develop into one of the leading championship in the world. Let’s face it, with the market in China for luxury and high performance cars, it makes sense for a manufacturer like Bentley to showcase their products and build customer engagement around the motorsport program.”
There was a very impressive field for the first event of the year at Goldenport, that looks to be a real tick of approval from the industry, do you think it is going in the right direction?
“It was actually a very good field - there are more cars to come as the season progresses, but to be fair I think it was a decent grid and it certainly built on the foundations they put down last year.”
Can China GT follow the success of GT3 competition in Europe and be as big a market?
“Yeah, I think so. Looking at the whole car market, or car industry, China is the biggest alongside America. We are also involved in PWC in America, so it’s great to be able to compare to both the USA and Europe, I don’t see why it shouldn’t be exploding in China, it is such a big country, and such a big market that it can be - definitely - self sustainable.
China GT in 2016 saw some of the biggest crowds for any motorsport event in the region, is that a sign that the fans really want to see this kind of competition?
“Let’s face it, they’re dream cars - cars that you dream to own, cars that you can relate to, cars which you desire when they are on the street. To see them racing is attractive, and for the fans to be able to get up close to them and see the teams and drivers are approachable, that’s important, and that’s building a strong relationship for the future of the sport in China.”
