Absolute Racing driver Akash Nandy maintained his momentum with a spectacular Silver Cup win and a podium finish at the GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS round at the Mandalika International Circuit in Indonesia.
With ambient temperatures hovering around 30°C on Saturday, track conditions were equally demanding. The Malaysian ace set the third-fastest time in Qualifying 1, placing third in the Silver Cup class and just 0.068 seconds shy of pole position. Qualifying 2 proved more challenging, but Nandy still secured fourth in class and 16th overall on the grid for Sunday's race.
Saturday afternoon's Race 1 did not unfold as planned. After his Lamborghini Huracán GT3 was tagged from behind in the opening moments — fortunately without significant damage — a subsequent Safety Car period, triggered by a separate incident on track, compromised Nandy's early progress.
Running as a solo entry, he was also subject to an additional seven seconds of pit-stop time, which dropped him from fourth overall to tenth. Despite this setback, he fought back strongly, gaining two positions to finish eighth overall and third in the Silver Cup class under sustained pressure from a rival.
Nandy reflected on the race: "I got a bit disappointed due to the Safety Car in the opening stint, and it didn't help with the extra pit-stop time too. I had an additional four seconds over the other Silver Cup cars this weekend, which gave them more of an advantage. I was also tapped by car #37 on lap one, which cost me ground to the front. Despite all that, we were still able to collect valuable overall points, which is important, and the car is performing well enough to fight with the current Balance of Performance. There were definitely positives to take away with P3 in Silver and solid overall points.”
Sunday's second race, held in a festive atmosphere at the Indonesian circuit, promised to be a stern test for all competitors. The eventful opening race had made clear that any mistakes would prove costly. Nandy kept his cool and began carving his way up from 16th on the grid. By the fifth lap, following several hard-fought, wheel-to-wheel battles, the Malaysian driver had already climbed to 12th place. A longer pit stop, dictated by the regulations, dropped him back to 14th, but Nandy was undeterred and in inspired form.
In the second phase of his stint, he continued to climb through the order, dispatching rivals with precision and capitalising on small errors from his opponents. On the final lap, even with the Silver Cup lead already secured, Nandy pushed on to overtake a further rival, crossing the finish line in an impressive fourth place overall.
With this result, the Absolute Racing driver retained the lead of the Silver Cup standings and sits sixth in the overall classification, contributing to Absolute Racing's lead in the Teams' Championship at the end of the first third of the season.
"It was a solid and productive weekend for us in Mandalika," Nandy said. "We came away with P8 overall and P3 in Silver in Race 1, and followed that up with P4 overall and a class win in Race 2. We maximised what we had this weekend, even though the pace wasn't entirely on our side, and to come away with strong points in both the overall and Silver standings shows the effort from the whole team. Consistency will be key as we continue to push forward and stay in the fight.”
He added: "A big thank you to Provident and Absolute Racing for all the hard work both on and off the track. It's a real team effort.”
At the end of the weekend, Ingo Matter, Team Principal, commented: "We're delighted to secure another Silver Cup win and to take the lead in the class standings. Akash delivered a faultless performance, capitalising on others' mistakes. He drove extremely well today; running solo is never easy, and he pulled off a superb late move that shows he's continuing to improve. It's still early days in the championship, but we'll carry this momentum forward, maintain our commitment, and keep pushing hard for more strong results.”
The GT World Challenge Asia season continues on 5–6 June at the Shanghai International Circuit in China.
