BMW Sports Trophy squad AAI Motorsports has confirmed a two-car entry for the season opening Blancpain GT Series Asia round at Sepang on April 8/9.
The Taiwanese outfit will run a pair of BMW M6 GT3s under the FIST - Team AAI banner in Malaysia with a view to adding extra Blancpain GT Series Asia dates to its 2017 schedule. Both driver crews will be announced in due course.
AAI Motorsports boasts more than 20 years of racing experience, and has been a regular in the Asian Le Mans Series’ GT class since its inception in 2015. The team debuted its M6 GT3s in this season’s championship after previously using its Z4 predecessor and a McLaren 650S GT3.
It has also entered Le Mans’ GTE Am class twice - in 2015 and ’16 - and made sporadic GT Asia appearances in recent seasons.
AAI Motorsports is the first team to have announced BMW GT3 machinery for this year’s inaugural Blancpain GT Series Asia campaign. Other manufacturers already confirmed include Ferrari, Audi, Mercedes-AMG, McLaren, Aston Martin and Lamborghini.
AAI Motorsports team owner Jun-San Chen: “Our first experience of the Blancpain GT Series in Europe back in 2012 with our McLaren MP4-12C GT3 and 55 cars on the starting grid proved to us, without doubt, what an amazing organisation the Blancpain GT Series is. Now that the same successful platform has arrived to plant its roots here in Asia, and bringing such strong competition, we at FIST – Team AAI are excited to put our BMW M6 GT3s into the mix at Sepang.”
Championship manager Benjamin Franassovici: “AAI Motorsports represent another fantastic addition to this year’s Blancpain GT Series Asia field. They are well known as one of the continent’s premier GT teams, but have also tested themselves against international competition. So although their busy schedule means this is a one-off entry for now, I have no doubt they will provide very tough opposition for our full-season GT3 teams. Hopefully we will see them again at some point during the year.”
2017 Blancpain GT Series Asia Schedule
April 8/9 Sepang, Malaysia
May 20/21 Chang International Circuit, Thailand
June 24/25 Suzuka, Japan
August 19/20 Fuji Speedway, Japan
September 23/24 Shanghai, China
October 21/22 Zhejiang, China
