The 2026 GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS championship battle tightened considerably during Round 5 at the Beijing Street Circuit, with several title fights transformed ahead of the Shanghai finale.
Liu Kaishun and series debutant Takuro Shinohara converted pole position into victory for Harmony Racing in Race 1, while Huang Ruohan and Alessandro Ghiretti completed a remarkable recovery from their Friday fire to win the second contest. Their Beijing comeback helped cut Lu Wei’s overall championship advantage from 22 points to only five with two races remaining.
Lu endured his first non-score since Sepang when he crashed out of Race 1, but recovered alongside Loek Hartog to finish second on Sunday after a penalty dropped Cheng Congfu and Yu Kuai behind the Origine Motorsport Porsche. Cheng and Yu nevertheless secured the China Cup title and strengthened their Silver Championship position during another productive weekend.
The GTWC Asia standings also show significant movement elsewhere. Absolute Racing has overturned Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom’s advantage in the Teams’ Championship, Huang and Ghiretti now sit only two points behind Lu in Pro-Am, while the Silver, Silver-Am and Am titles all remain open heading into Shanghai.
Lu’s 22-point advantage shrinks to five
Lu entered Beijing in his strongest championship position of the season after turning a four-point deficit before Okayama into a 22-point advantage. That cushion almost disappeared across two eventful races in the Chinese capital.
Saturday proved particularly costly. Lu spun on cold tyres shortly after the first Full Course Yellow ended and hit the barrier, bringing his race to an early conclusion. Huang and Ghiretti capitalised with fifth, while Anthony Liu moved considerably closer after taking Pro-Am victory in fourth overall during the opening Beijing contest.
The picture shifted again on Sunday. Huang and Ghiretti completed their extraordinary recovery by winning Race 2, while Lu and Hartog inherited second when Cheng and Yu received a five-second penalty. Lu moves to 124 points, but the Absolute Racing pairing has climbed to 119 and sits only five behind.
Cheng and Yu move into third on 98 after their podium, while Anthony Liu follows on 96 after his 30-second Race 2 penalty erased much of Saturday’s progress. Race 1 winner Liu Kaishun sits only another point behind on 95, leaving five leading drivers or crews separated by 29 points.
2026 GTWC Asia Drivers’ Championship after Round 5
- Lu Wei – 124 points
- Huang Ruohan & Alessandro Ghiretti – 119 points
- Cheng Congfu & Yu Kuai – 98 points
- Anthony Liu Xu – 96 points
- Liu Kaishun – 95 points
- Takayuki Aoki – 71 points
- Laurin Heinrich – 70 points
- Atsushi Miyake – 70 points
- Andrés Pato & Jaxon Evans – 66 points
- Akash Nandy – 65 points
- Ruan Cun Fan – 64 points
- Dorian Boccolacci – 47 points
- Chen Weian – 46 points
- Loek Hartog – 43 points
- Takuro Shinohara – 37 points
- Alessio Picariello – 36 points
- Brian Lee & Maxime Oosten – 35 points
- Neil Verhagen – 27 points
- Shigekazu Wakisaka & Ryo Ogawa – 26 points
- Dean Yu Hao Chen & Jiatong Liang – 26 points
- Sandy Stuvik – 26 points
- Lichao Li & Elias Seppänen – 25 points
- Ayhancan Güven – 24 points
- Max Hesse – 21 points
- Adderly Fong – 18 points
- Song Jiajun & Brendon Leitch – 16 points
- Jesse Krohn – 16 points
- Sean Gelael – 15 points
- Kiyoshi Uchiyama & Tsubasa Kondo – 14 points
- Deng Yi – 12 points
- Andy Tan & Thierry Vermeulen – 8 points
- Kerong Li & Joel Sturm – 8 points
- Vutthikorn Inthraphuvasak & Klaus Bachler – 6 points
- Tomohide Yamaguchi & Seiji Ara – 6 points
- Hiroaki Nagai & Kazuto Kotaka – 4 points
- William Ben Porter & Andrew Macpherson – 4 points
- Kimiya Sato – 1 point
- Liu Hangcheng & Wang Zhongwei – 1 point
Lu still controls the overall championship, but his margin leaves little room for error. Huang and Ghiretti need only a small swing in Shanghai to move ahead, while Cheng, Yu, Anthony Liu and Liu Kaishun remain close enough to capitalise if the two leading Porsches encounter trouble.
Absolute Racing overturns Phantom advantage
Absolute Racing produced an even larger turnaround in the Teams’ Championship. The team arrived in Beijing 26 points behind Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom but leaves the penultimate round 19 points ahead.
Huang and Ghiretti contributed fifth place and victory, while Nandy and Stuvik finished third on Saturday and fifth on Sunday. Those results move Absolute to 184 points and completely alter the championship picture after Beijing.
Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom endured a more difficult weekend despite showing strong pace. Cheng and Yu lost ground through their Race 1 penalty before finishing third on Sunday, while Pato and Evans retired from Saturday’s contest and failed to add significantly to the team’s total.
Origine Motorsport remains third on 128 after Lu’s Race 2 podium, while Harmony Racing climbs to fourth on 114 following Liu and Shinohara’s victory and fourth place across the two races.
2026 GTWC Asia Overall Teams’ Championship after Round 5
- Absolute Racing – 184 points
- Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom – 165 points
- Origine Motorsport – 128 points
- Harmony Racing – 114 points
- Team KRC – 101 points
- Phantom Global Racing – 96 points
- TEAM 5ZIGEN – 72 points
- Craft-Bamboo Racing – 26 points
- LM Corsa – 26 points
- Climax Racing – 25 points
- Porsche Center Okazaki – 20 points
- 33R Harmony Racing – 18 points
- Garage 75 – 15 points
- Absolute Corse – 8 points
- PLUS with BMW M Team Studie – 6 points
- AMAC Motorsport – 6 points
The 45-point swing between Absolute and Phantom compared with their positions after Okayama means the Teams’ Championship has changed dramatically before the final two races.
Lu holds just two points over Huang and Ghiretti in Pro-Am
The Pro-Am battle is even closer than the overall championship, with only two points separating Lu from Huang and Ghiretti.
Lu failed to score in Saturday’s class classification following his accident before adding 18 points on Sunday. Huang and Ghiretti, meanwhile, took second in class during Race 1 before collecting the maximum 25 points with their Race 2 victory.
Anthony Liu remains firmly involved on 145. His Saturday victory briefly made him Lu’s nearest challenger, but the penalty following his contact with Pato restricted his Sunday score and leaves him 12 points away from the class lead.
2026 GTWC Asia Pro-Am standings after Round 5
- Lu Wei – 157 points
- Huang Ruohan & Alessandro Ghiretti – 155 points
- Anthony Liu Xu – 145 points
- Ruan Cun Fan – 119 points
- Andrés Pato & Jaxon Evans – 101 points
- Song Jiajun & Brendon Leitch – 84 points
- Laurin Heinrich – 79 points
- Dorian Boccolacci – 64 points
- Alessio Picariello – 60 points
- Ayhancan Güven – 52 points
- Hiroaki Nagai – 52 points
- Neil Verhagen – 49 points
- Kazuto Kotaka – 48 points
- Loek Hartog – 47 points
- Shigekazu Wakisaka & Ryo Ogawa – 45 points
- Tomohide Yamaguchi & Seiji Ara – 40 points
- Jesse Krohn – 40 points
- Max Hesse – 30 points
- Andy Tan & Thierry Vermeulen – 28 points
- Vutthikorn Inthraphuvasak – 27 points
- Klaus Bachler – 26 points
- Kerong Li & Joel Sturm – 23 points
- Bastian Buus – 7 points
- Kazuki Ota – 6 points
- Yuichi Nakayama – 4 points
With two races remaining, Lu, Huang and Ghiretti enter Shanghai as the clear favourites, but Anthony Liu remains close enough to take advantage of any problems for the leading two entries.
Cheng and Yu hold seven-point Silver advantage
Cheng and Yu remain at the top of the Silver standings, but Liu Kaishun’s outstanding Beijing weekend has reduced their advantage to only seven points.
The Audi pairing added 37 points across the two races to move to 180. Their weekend included frustration on Saturday when a Full Course Yellow penalty cost them a potential overall podium, but Sunday’s class victory ensured they retained control.
Liu made the biggest gain after converting pole into the Race 1 victory alongside Shinohara before finishing second in class on Sunday. He added 43 points to reach 173, while Aoki remains third on 148 and Nandy sits only three further back.
2026 GTWC Asia Silver standings after Round 5
- Cheng Congfu & Yu Kuai – 180 points
- Liu Kaishun – 173 points
- Takayuki Aoki – 148 points
- Akash Nandy – 145 points
- Atsushi Miyake – 121 points
- Chen Weian – 77 points
- Deng Yi – 53 points
- Takuro Shinohara – 43 points
- Sandy Stuvik – 42 points
- Adderly Fong – 30 points
- Kimiya Sato – 27 points
- Sean Gelael – 18 points
Shanghai will therefore decide the Silver Championship, with Cheng and Yu holding a narrow advantage over Liu after the Harmony Racing driver’s strongest weekend of the campaign.
Lee and Oosten retain 10-point Silver-Am lead
Brian Lee and Maxime Oosten continue to lead Silver-Am after another strong weekend for GTO with KRC.
The pairing added 40 points across the two races, finishing third in class on Saturday before winning on Sunday to reach 190. Jiatong Liang remains only 10 points behind after he and Dean Yu Hao Chen won Race 1 for Craft-Bamboo Racing before taking another podium in Race 2.
Lichao Li and Elias Seppänen strengthen third on 142 after another consistent weekend, while Chen rises to 117 following his two Beijing podiums.
2026 GTWC Asia Silver-Am standings after Round 5
- Brian Lee & Maxime Oosten – 190 points
- Jiatong Liang – 180 points
- Lichao Li & Elias Seppänen – 142 points
- Dean Yu Hao Chen – 117 points
- Kiyoshi Uchiyama & Tsubasa Kondo – 106 points
- Daisuke Yamawaki – 63 points
- Sun Jingzu & Adderly Fong – 42 points
- Adrian D’Silva & Enzo Trulli – 24 points
Lee and Oosten remain in control, but Liang’s consistency means the title remains far from settled before the championship reaches Shanghai.
Santoso and Zhou take control of Am standings
Beijing produced a change at the top of the Am Championship as Setiawan Santoso and Zhou Bihuang overturned the deficit they carried into the weekend.
The Climax Racing pairing started Round 5 10 points behind Liu Hangcheng and Wang Zhongwei but immediately took maximum points with victory in Race 1. Third on Sunday then lifted them to 196 points and into the championship lead.
Liu and Wang failed to score on Saturday before finishing second in Race 2, leaving them 12 points behind. William Ben Porter and Andrew Macpherson remain third after winning Sunday’s contest for AMAC Motorsport.
2026 GTWC Asia Am standings after Round 5
- Zhou Bihuang & Setiawan Santoso – 196 points
- Liu Hangcheng & Wang Zhongwei – 184 points
- William Ben Porter & Andrew Macpherson – 136 points
- David Tjiptobiantoro & Christian Colombo – 66 points
- Aaron Lim Say Joon & Haziq Zairel Oh – 42 points
- Cold Max & Yamatatsu – 33 points
The 12-point gap leaves Santoso and Zhou in the strongest position, although Liu and Wang remain firmly involved with two races left.
Cheng and Yu secure China Cup title
Beijing also produced the first championship success of the weekend, with Cheng and Yu securing the China Cup before the season finale.
The pair move to 199 points after another strong weekend, while Liu Kaishun remains second on 141. With the deficit now greater than the number of points available in Shanghai, Cheng and Yu have wrapped up the title with one round remaining.
Liu Hangcheng and Wang Zhongwei sit third on 121, only two points ahead of Dean Chen and Liang, leaving the remaining championship positions open.
2026 GTWC Asia China Cup standings after Round 5
- Cheng Congfu & Yu Kuai – 199 points
- Liu Kaishun – 141 points
- Liu Hangcheng & Wang Zhongwei – 121 points
- Dean Yu Hao Chen & Jiatong Liang – 119 points
- Chen Weian – 83 points
- Adderly Fong – 77 points
- Deng Yi – 58 points
- Sun Jingzu – 37 points
Cheng and Yu can therefore head to Shanghai with one title already secured while concentrating on their remaining Overall and Silver championship opportunities.
Yu strengthens SRO GT Academy lead
Yu also extends his advantage in the SRO GT Academy classification following another productive weekend in Beijing.
He moves to 201 points, increasing his lead over Atsushi Miyake to 30. Miyake climbs to second despite his Race 2 retirement, while Oosten sits only another two points behind.
Seppänen follows on 142, with Liu Kaishun only three points further back after his strong Beijing showing. Nandy sits sixth on 112, while Deng completes the classification on 60.
2026 GTWC Asia SRO GT Academy standings after Round 5
- Yu Kuai – 201 points
- Atsushi Miyake – 171 points
- Maxime Oosten – 169 points
- Elias Seppänen – 142 points
- Liu Kaishun – 139 points
- Akash Nandy – 112 points
- Deng Yi – 60 points
Yu therefore carries a meaningful advantage into Shanghai, although the final two races still leave enough points available for the Academy contest to remain open.
Beijing transforms GTWC Asia title fights
The Beijing weekend undid much of the advantage Lu built during the Japanese rounds. His 22-point Overall lead has fallen to five, while only two points now separate him from Huang and Ghiretti in Pro-Am.
Absolute Racing produced an even greater reversal by turning a 26-point Teams’ Championship deficit into a 19-point advantage. Cheng and Yu secured the China Cup and retained control of Silver, Lee and Oosten remain 10 points clear in Silver-Am, while the Am championship has changed hands.
After the penultimate Beijing round, GTWC Asia now heads to Shanghai International Circuit on 31 October-1 November with the Overall, Teams, Pro-Am, Silver, Silver-Am, Am and SRO GT Academy battles all still offering something to decide.
