Reigning champions Yuan and Ye head cast of championship hopefuls
Silver, Silver-Am and Am titles also up for grabs
All-new Beijing Street Circuit closes out Asia’s 2025 campaign
Seven crews – a joint championship record – will battle for 2025’s GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS drivers’ title around the streets of Beijing this weekend when China’s capital hosts the series’ season finale.
Two 60-minute contests close out a 12-race campaign that has already visited Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan. However, this is the first time the championship has ever competed on a street circuit, which has been built specifically for this event.
Overseen by Apex Circuit Design, the 4.9-kilometre-long, 12-turn track uses public roads and highways to wind its way between modern architecture and the Tongming Lake Park in Beijing’s picturesque Economic-Technological Development Area known as E-Town.
Fittingly, the 24-strong entry features 25 Chinese nationals, eight of whom are among the overall title contenders.
Yuan Bo and Leo Ye start as favourites to retain their crown thanks to a 14-point advantage over compatriot and Origine team-mate Lu Wei, while Prince Jefri Ibrahim (JMR) lies one point further back. 2023 title winner Anthony Liu and his Absolute co-driver Dorian Boccolacci are also in the mix along with Silver class leaders Cheng Congfu and Yu Kuai (FAW/Phantom), Silver-Am champions-elect Ruan CunFan and Maxime Oosten (Team KRC), and Cao Qi (Craft-Bamboo).
All of the challengers can take some comfort from Yuan and Ye’s 10-place grid penalty, which should make for an intriguing Saturday afternoon.
Ferrari factory driver and 2025 Le Mans 24 Hours winner Ye Yifei (Harmony) leads the significant cast of drivers eager to star on home soil. Among them are Deng Yi (Harmony), Liang Jiatong (Craft-Bamboo), Rio and Shaun Thong (Uno Racing) who remain in Silver class title contention.
Yu Kanamaru (5ZIGEN) is the only driver capable of beating Ruan and Oosten to the Silver-Am crown. However, he starts 36 points behind, and only 50 are available for winning both races.
David Tjiptobiantoro and Christian Colombo also comfortably top the Am standings. Their only remaining rivals, Ben Porter (AMAC) and Setiawan Santoso (EBM), must overturn 38 and 40-point deficits, respectively, whilst hoping Garage 75’s Ferrari endures an uncharacteristically difficult weekend.
This will not be the first time that an SRO-organised championship has raced on China’s streets: Zhuhai’s public roads hosted the BPR Global GT Series in 1994 and 1995 before switching to the city’s then-new purpose-built circuit. The FIA GT1 World Championship also held a demonstration outside the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium in 2011.
GT World Challenge Asia, meanwhile, has previously raced at the Shanghai International Circuit, Ningbo and Zhejiang. It shares the Beijing event with SRO GT Cup, a new championship for Chinese GT4 teams that is staging its penultimate round of the season this weekend.
Qualifying and both races are live on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel, and national broadcaster CCTV will show Sunday’s race live across China.
