On 3rd May, finalists from eight countries gathered at Fuji Speedway- the stage of “SUPER GT Rd 2” and “FUJI GT 500km RACE”- for The BMW Z4 Challenge Championship ASIA Final.

In addition to finalists from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand who were selected in the online qualifying and main races, a Japanese finalist was also selected at the Japan finals held in the morning of the same day. All eight finalists were then divided into two groups of four for the qualifying rounds, and the top two racers of each group- a total of four racers- entered the finals.

The global ranking of online racing results was the criteria to determine the division of groups and grid order, with Yam (Japan, Asia ranking 1st), Rama (Indonesia, 15th), Nuri (Korea, 20th) and Rockysuper (Taiwan, 27th) as Group A; while Jactin (Hong Kong, 5th), Shinka (Malaysia, 17th), Charles (Singapore, 21st) and NathaSiri (Thailand, 31st) as Group B. The champion and 1st runner-up in Group A- Rama and Yam; together with the champion and 1st runner up in Group B- Jactin and Charles- obtained their tickets to the finals.

Prior to the official start of Super GT Rd 2 qualifying rounds, racer Seiji Ara from BMW Sports Trophy Team Studie also made his way to the venue to show support. After a grand final held in front of a huge crowd of spectators, Indonesian racer Rama found his way to the top among 40,000 racers, followed by YAM from Japan and Charles from Singapore on the 2nd and 3rd place respectively. Jactin made a good show as well but fell victim to a technical problem during the race.

The prize for Rama is an invitation to the premium circuit event “BMW M Power Experience 2014” to be held in Istanbul, Turkey.

Comment from Rama:

I would like to express my thanks towards everyone involved in this event and all people from various countries. Thank you very much.
Click here to see the video of the qualifying and final rounds:
http://bmw-z4c.com/asiacup.html


The Gran Turismo 6 Exhibition matches by SUPER GT racers were also held between the qualifying and final rounds, with the participation of GT Academy graduates Lucas Ordóñez, Kazuya Oshima and Kouda Tsukakoshi. In this heated competition, Lucas demonstrated his aura being a Champion of the GT Academy and claimed victory with a minor lead.

As with the participants from other countries, in addition to the final match itself, I have had a great time at the GT Cult Quiz held at the welcome dinner the day before, on-the- pit interviews with Team Studie BMW Z4, posing with racer Jörg Müller and Seiji Ara of BMW Works Driver around racer cars for group photos; watching SUPER GT qualifying rounds from the BMW VIP lounge as well as photo-taking on a real winners’ podium.


I would like to express my heartfelt thanks towards a lot of people for being there.