Leading Chinese GT team JR-M has confirmed it will be taking on the 2019 Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia in a new Porsche 911 GT3 R with Li Chao and Chris van der Drift.
For the last two seasons the driver pairing in the previous model of the 911 GT3 R took second place in the China GT Championship before making the step up to Asia’s biggest GT Series this season.
Chao and van der Drift had a taste of Blancpain GT Series Asia action last season where they took part in the Shanghai race.
Between the driver pairing they hold a wealth of Porsche driving experience, van der Drift’s racing CV includes three Porsche Carrera Cup Asia titles while Chao has also raced for several season in the series plus the 2018 FIA GT Nations Cup.
“I’m really looking forward to competing in 2019’s Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia with the new Porsche 911 GT3 R,” said Chao.
“We contested the Shanghai races in the series last year – it was a very productive weekend and we were happy with our performance.
“I’ll be doing all six rounds this year and we will be pushing to be competitive from the beginning. I would like to thank Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific, who have worked with me over the winter to get this all finalised.”
With JR-M confirming they will be running the new Porsche 911 GT3 R, it brings the series total to four; Absolute Racing will run two cars while ARN Racing switch from Ferrari power to Porsche.
Head of Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific, Alexandre Gibot added “It’s great to see Li Chao make the move over to the Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia for a full season.
“This year’s grid looks just as competitive and we’ll be sure to help him achieve the best possible results.
“This development sees the number of 2019-spec Porsche 911 GT3 R currently registered for the Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia increase to four.
“We’re confident that Li will do a great job with the new car and now we await the first round in April.”
The season opens on 6-7 April as he heads to Sepang in Malaysia for the first two of this year’s 12 races.
