Absolute Racing's No. 63 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2, shared by Malaysia's Akash Nandy and Thailand's Sandy Stuvik and sporting a striking new 'Ultraman Zero' livery created in partnership with Trends Hobby, marked its competitive debut with a dramatic overall victory in the China GT Championship at the Shanghai International Circuit this weekend.
Saturday morning did not go to plan, with the Lamborghini failing to leave the pits due to technical problems; meaning the car would start from the back of the grid for both of the weekend's races.
In Saturday afternoon's first race, Nandy took the wheel of the repaired car and launched a fierce counter-attack, picking off nearly ten cars in a single lap as he pushed forward. Just as the momentum was building, however, a serious accident on track brought out the red flag. With the race not resuming, the No. 63 was classified 16th overall, leaving the crew with all their hopes pinned on Sunday's second race. They still managed to reach the podium in the Pro International class, finishing third.
On Sunday, the No. 63 lined up at the back of the grid once again — but this time, the crew left no room for regret. Stuvik took the opening stint and, carrying over the pace that had earned him overall pole at the GT World Challenge Asia Cup at Okayama the previous weekend, quickly carved his way forward, breaking into the overall top ten within a handful of laps. Amid intense track battles, Stuvik launched a string of attacks through the corner sequence, making the 'Ultraman Zero' a focal point of the television coverage.
Mid-race, a multi-car incident brought out a full-course yellow. With the mandatory pit window open, the team made a swift call, bringing Stuvik in at half-distance and completing the driver change and associated procedures inside the Pro class's 98-second mandatory stop time.
When racing resumed, Nandy took over and continued the charge. Showing excellent rhythm and consistent pace, he fought his way into the overall top three and kept pushing hard through the closing stages. On the final lap, he found every last ounce of performance from car and driver alike, setting the race's fastest lap with a 2:01.551 and closing to within a second of the leader.
After the chequered flag, the car ahead was handed a five-second post-race penalty for causing a collision, promoting the No. 63 Lamborghini to first overall, securing the team's maiden win of the season in Race 2 at Shanghai, and the No. 63 crew's first overall victory of the campaign.
Nandy said: "First of all, a huge thank you to the whole team. It's been a challenging weekend, and we've been fighting issues with the car throughout, which cost us valuable track time in practice and meant we couldn't take part in qualifying. To start the race from the back of the grid and finish where we did is a fantastic result. I'm really proud of the work everyone has put in, and Sandy and I gave absolutely everything to bring the car forward and fight for every position. It's a well-deserved result for the whole team. We've had a bit of bad luck recently, so to finally put a strong result on the board feels really good. Hopefully this is something we can build on for the rest of the season."
Team-mate Stuvik added: "It was a difficult start to the weekend, with some technical issues meaning we couldn't get as much running as we wanted on Friday. That put us a little bit on the back foot heading into qualifying, and unfortunately we had a similar issue with the car there. The team did an amazing job to fix everything and make sure we had a reliable car for the races. On Saturday, Akash made an incredible start and gained a lot of positions, but unfortunately the race was cut short after the accident. We're all relieved that the drivers involved are recovering and that it wasn't any worse."
The Thai driver concluded: "Today, we finally had the opportunity to complete the full race, and I think we showed some really good pace. The biggest thanks has to go to the team; they had to put in a huge amount of extra work this weekend to make sure the car was ready and reliable. I'm so happy that Akash and I could repay them with this win, and for ourselves as well. We've had some bad luck recently, but we've always felt that we have a really strong combination together. To finally get the result is an amazing feeling. For my first time racing in China GT, I couldn't have asked for much more. I'm really happy with the weekend, and hopefully Akash and I can come back here and do it all again someday."
The China GT Championship returns on 7-8 November for the season finale at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia.
