Absolute Racing Porsche Team Shows Progress Despite Fuji Disappointments

It was a challenging weekend for Absolute Racing’s Porsche crews in a dramatic GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS double-header at Fuji Speedway. Both entries were caught up in race incidents, and the weekend results do not reflect the genuine progress made by the team during the fourth round of the 2025 season.

In the No. 321 Absolute Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R entry, a last minute deal allowed Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia AM class champion Changwoo Lee took over the seat of Li Xuanyu to team up with Daniel Lu Wenlong. Back in red and white colours, the No. 911 Absolute Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R was again driven by Wang Zhongwei and Porsche specialist Patrick Pilet

After practice sessions on Thursday and Friday, Saturday morning’s Q1 saw Wang Zhongwei qualify 16th, while Changwoo Lee struggled, managing only 29th after having three lap times deleted for exceeding track limits. With fifteen cars covered by less than a second, Q2 proved challenging as well: Patrick Pilet qualified 17th, just ahead of teammate Lu in 18th, with both drivers having two lap times disallowed each for exceeding track limits.

Race one on Saturday afternoon brought early drama for the team when Korean series debutant Changwoo Lee’s race was cut short following contact from a rival car, which resulted in a heavy impact with the barriers between Turns 2 and 3.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the garage, Absolute’s Porsche—shared by Wang Zhongwei and Patrick Pilet—delivered an impressive drive, climbing from 16th on the grid to finish fifth overall. Their fast, error-free performance, combined with no success penalty, earned them a fourth-place finish in the Pro-Am class, marking the best result achieved by both drivers to date.

Race two on Sunday was no less dramatic for the team. Pilet held a position within the top ten during the first half of the race, but hopes were dashed when Wang Zhongwei’s pit-bound Absolute Porsche was struck from behind by a rival with just fifteen minutes remaining. Despite starting well down the order, Daniel Lu and Changwoo Lee delivered a determined performance, bringing the #321 entry home in sixth place in the Silver-Am class—an impressive result following the overnight repair effort after Saturday’s unfortunate incident.

The GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS will resume in Japan for the final weekend of August, as the series heads to Okayama International Circuit from 29th to 31st August. The event forms part of the SRO GT Powertour weekend.

“We started the weekend with decent pace and managed to carry it over to qualifying. Unfortunately we didn’t finish Race 1, and today was also a tough one. We completed the race, it wasn’t an amazing weekend in terms of results but we know what we need to improve on and will keep pushing for Okayama.”

“I’m pleased to have experienced the Porsche 911 GT3 R in such an incredible championship, but unfortunately luck was not on our side. We couldn’t achieve our potential following an incident in Race 1. Sincere thanks to Absolute Racing and my teammate Daniel for giving me this great opportunity.”

“We improved our performance a lot this weekend, a small issue in qualifying cost us a better result, but the race pace was great. We were delighted to score points on Saturday, and were unlucky to have a small problem on the car after a brilliant start today. Unfortunately Wang was hit from behind while coming into the pit lane in Race 2 which forced a DNF, but it was a really strong effort from the whole team. Now our focus needs to be on Okayama, to prove to everyone just how quick we can be.”