Absolute Corse drivers Huang Ruohan and Akash Nandy celebrated their maiden Silver-Am Cup victory in the GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS season finale at the all-new 4.9km Beijing Street Circuit.

After ten fiercely contested races across Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan, Absolute Corse entered a single Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 for the season finale in Beijing, fielding Silver-Am Cup contenders Huang Ruohan and Akash Nandy in what marked the team’s inaugural campaign with the Sant’Agata Bolognese-built GT3 machine.

Following timetable changes late on Friday night - brought about by delays in completing the temporary circuit on the public roads and highways around the city’s Economic-Technological Development Area (E-Town) in the opening day - the weekend timetable took on a slightly different format. Both fifteen-minute qualifying sessions were held on Saturday, with the two races condensed into Sunday’s action-packed finale.

Tackling the usual challenges of a brand-new street circuit, the team worked relentlessly to fine-tune the Huracán GT3 EVO2’s setup after every session, guided by detailed driver feedback and engineers experience. The conditions proved particularly tricky, with a dusty track surface and seasonably cold temperatures in the People’s Republic of China’s capital.

With Tongming Lake Park and the district’s cutting-edge architecture forming a striking backdrop, Saturday afternoon’s qualifying sessions went smoothly for the Absolute Corse duo. Bronze-ranked driver Huang clocked a best lap of 1:45.995, finishing fourth overall and taking pole position in the Silver-Am Cup. Thanks to a grid penalty for one of the front-row competitors, he would line up third overall for Sunday’s opening race. An accident in the end of Q1 compromised the pace of the car for Q2 so Silver-ranked Nandy had to deliver another strong performance in Q2, setting a 1:44.803 to secure third in the Silver-Am class for the season’s final race.

Sunday’s first race was cut short after Huang’s excellent getaway was followed by contact from a rival that damaged his rear tyre. Although the car initially appeared to be fine, the Chinese–Malaysian duo continued to battle not only for the class victory but also for the overall lead. Unfortunately, their race came to an end on lap 17 due to a driveshaft issue, likely caused by the contact at the start of the race.

In Race 2, the pair knew they would have to fight their way from the midfield to the front. The race was shortened by 22 minutes after an accident triggered a Safety Car period that lasted until the finish. Despite that, Akash and Huang steadily climbed through the field to finish sixth overall and first in the Silver-Am Cup, their maiden win of the season after seven podium finishes.

This well-reversed win was celebrated in the pits but had the race run to full distance, there was a strong sense that the No. 29 Absolute Corse Lamborghini could have continued its charge up the order.

Absolute Corse’s season is not over yet, as the team will enter two Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2s in the highly anticipated Macau GT Cup – FIA GT World Cup, held as part of the 57th Macau Grand Prix from 13 to 16 November. Lamborghini Factory Drivers Edoardo Mortara and Luca Engstler will lead the team’s charge on the legendary Circuito da Guia.

Team Quotes

Ingo Matter (Absolute Racing Team Principal)

It’s been a learning season for us with Lamborghini, full of challenges and valuable experiences as we’ve continued to understand the car. Finishing the season with a class win makes all the effort worthwhile, even if it comes with mixed feelings, as we had the pace for an overall victory. Nevertheless, it’s a great reward for everyone’s hard work. Our focus now turns to the Macau Grand Prix, one of the most iconic and demanding events on the calendar. We’ll give it everything to close out our first season on a high.

Huang Ruohan (No.29 Absolute Corse Driver)

I think we finally managed to put everything together. The car was really competitive here, and everyone in the team is quite happy. But, you know, things go up and down — that’s racing, it happens. For me, I should have taken pole position in Qualifying 1, but I got caught in traffic and lost some aero parts, which led to a crash in Qualifying 2. That was super tough, but not even the most frustrating part. I had a really good start in Race 1 — probably one of my best starts in the last two seasons — and climbed up to P2. Unfortunately, another Ferrari hit my right-rear tyre. The car was still okay at first, but it probably caused some technical issues, and we ended up with a DNF in Race 1. We should have won that race, even overall, not just in class. But it’s never too late — we came back and took P1 in our class in Race 2, showing the pace we always knew we had. It’s not been a perfect season — it’s been a tough one — but it’s still been a perfect journey for me, racing with this team.

Akash Nandy (No.29 Absolute Corse Driver)

It’s been a weekend filled with high emotions, especially after how Race 1 ended and with finally securing our first Silver-Am class win of the season. We showed strong pace throughout practice and qualifying, but unfortunately we sustained heavy bodywork damage at the end of Q1, which costed us valuable aero performance for Q2. Race 1 was shaping up to be a great one as we were in the fight for the overall win, but luck just wasn’t on our side with a driveshaft failure taking us out of contention. In Race 2, we knew it was all about making the most of what was left in the weekend, and both Ron and myself pushed hard to bring home our first class win and a top-six overall finish - a great way to close out a challenging season. Overall, it’s been a tough year where we’ve shown tremendous potential and race-winning pace at multiple rounds, but we’ve also had our fair share of setbacks and misfortune, often due to factors outside our control. Despite that, I’m proud of how we stayed resilient and kept pushing as a team. It’s been a pleasure driving the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2, and I’m grateful to Absolute Corse and Bin Zayed International for their unwavering support and belief in me throughout the season.