R&B Racing Takes Motul Sepang 12 Hours 2024 Overall Win

The annual Motul Sepang 12 Hours endurance race saw its 2024 edition held at the Petronas Sepang International Circuit (SIC) last weekend.

The annual Motul Sepang 12 Hours endurance returned last weekend for its 2024 edition at the Petronas Sepang International Circuit (SIC). Things kicked off practice sessions on Thursday, followed by further practice and qualifying sessions on Friday before the main race was flagged on Saturday at 10AM.

This year’s running was supported by title sponsor Motul, along with partners Pirelli and organisers Top Speed. The entry list saw 17 cars in total lining up the grid and competing across four classes – GT3, GT3 Am, GTC, and a newly added TCR Endurance Asia class.

“We are proud to once again have an entry list filled with teams from the Asia Pacific, with a 25% growth from last year, and such a diverse range of talent on track,” expressed Davide de Gobbi, Owner and GM of Shanghai-based Top Speed – one of the region’s leading motorsports and driving events firms.

Taking the overall win were the R&B Racing Team from the GT3 Am class and their #44 Porsche 911 GT3 R machine piloted by Yuan Bo, Lu Wei, and Ye Honghi.

Despite dropping down the order at the start of the race, GT3 Am pole-sitters  #44 R&B Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R crew of Yuan Bo, Lu Wei and Ye Honghi fought back up the order, and displayed a dominant performance. The outfit held the lead for the remainder to take not only class victory, but also the overall win.

Francois Beziac, Heremana Malmezac and Jono Lester placed second in the GT3 Am class after piloting their #71 Prime Speed Sport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 EVO II ahead of Li Donghui, Li Dongsheng, Zhou Bihuang and Yang Ruoyu in the #777 Climax Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II in third.

R&B Racing's winning trio in the centre of the podium.

In the GT3 class, Porsche was once again victorious, this time with the #911 Absolute Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R piloted Andrew Haryanto, Eshan Pieris and Dorian Boccolacci that placed first in class and second overall.

Henk Kiks, Akash Nandy and Christopher Haase placed second in the GT3 class with their #26 B-Quik Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II, ahead of the #31 Phantom Global Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II of Bian Ye, Cheng Congfu and Adderly Fong that claimed third in the class.

Victorious in the GT3 class too was the #911 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Absolute Racing piloted Andrew Haryanto, Eshan Pieris and Dorian Boccolacci. The trio would also claim second overall.

The #7 Vortex Racegraph Lamborghini Super Trofeo EVO2 of Jonathon Cecotto, Song Jiajun, Goh Eng Peng and Luo Qiren had a strong start in GTC by moving up from 15th to 7th overall to lead in class for the first hour.

Pole-sitters #710 D1 Racing Team Lamborghini Super Trofeo EVO2 of Hong Shijie, Chen Fangping, He Xinyang and Andre Couto fought back and were first in class from the second hour until the chequered flag.  John Shen, Francis Tjia, Christian Chia and Benny Simonsen in the #216 Modena Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup finished third.

The TCR Endurance Asia class saw the #326 326 Racing Team Audi RS3 LMS TCR of Wu Yifan, Liu Zichen, Lai Jingwen, Qiu Yiheng and Xiao Kunpeng put on a masterclass to seal a lights to flag win, ahead of Max James Hart, Yan Chuang, Jiang Nan, Liu Qiren in the #18 Z Speed Hyundai N i30 TCR.

Absolute Racing's winning trio of drivers in the centre of their class podium ceremony.

The Motul 12 Hours of Sepang now done and dusted, the next endurance race for Top Speed will see a return to the Shanghai International Circuit for the second Shanghai 8 Hours, slated for Oct 4 to Oct 6. 

“We are very happy to have returned to Sepang International circuit once again, bringing teams together from the Asia Pacific to race around the iconic track for 12 hours, and complete another successful event,” adds Davide de Gobbi, Managing Director of Top Speed.