Less than two hundredths of a second separated the front two in GT3 pole for the inaugural 2025 Michelin 12H Malaysia at Sepang International Circuit, with Chinese team Climax Racing clinching the top spot in its No.999 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO.
Across three closely contested sessions, the GT3 PRO-AM squad of Elias Seppänen, Zhou Bihuang and Tanart Sathienthirakul – joined by Li Lichao for Saturday’s race – recorded an average time of 2m04.556 seconds, narrowly edging the No.10 Absolute Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) to pole for the first round of the 2025/2026 Michelin 24H Series Middle East Trophy.
“It’s a long race, 12 hours, a lot can happen – but pole position is the best place you want to start the race from,” said a delighted Seppänen. “There is a lot of tough competition, we of course give our best and the car is feeling good. We made good improvements throughout the last two days, so we’re very confident for the race.”
GT3 Qualifying: Intense action across three sessions
Patric Niederhauser set the outright fastest lap in Q3 with a 2m03.893, but his trio average left Absolute Racing just 0.017 seconds shy of Climax’s pace. Joined by Antares Au and Loek Hartog, Absolute Racing’s No.10 Porsche saw Hartog come just three hundredths shy of Niederhauser’s speed in Q2.
Row two features an all-Porsche lock-out: Origine Motorsport’s No.87 car of Bo Yuan, Ye Hongli, Lu Wei and Liu Hangcheng claimed GT3-AM pole, just three tenths behind the front row, followed by No.26 Winhere Bquik Absolute Racing driven by Alessandro Ghiretti, Deng Yi, Henk Kiks and Vincenzo Ricci.
In the first qualifying session, Malaysia’s Dominic Ang led Viper Niza Racing in the No.65 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO with a 2m05.231, narrowly ahead of Bihuang’s Climax entry. Far East teams dominated early, filling the top four spots in Q1.
In Q2, Seppänen shot to the top with a 2m04.020, just before a mid-session stoppage caused by the GTX Vortex hitting gravel at Turn 14. Hartog responded with the fastest Q2 lap of 2m03.928, while Viper Niza’s Melvin Moh set 2m04.676, and Hongli in Origine’s Porsche posted 2m04.222, keeping the top four within three-tenths of a second.
The final 15-minute session saw multiple position swaps. Niederhauser’s opening lap of 2m03.684 was disallowed, giving Origine’s Yuan provisional pole with 2m04.696. Sathienthirakul later posted 2m04.372, cementing Climax’s final average ahead of Absolute Racing. Ghiretti’s Q3 best of 2m03.896 was just three thousandths off Niederhauser’s mark.
Neither Continental Racing by Simpson Motorsport (Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II) nor Herberth Motorsport (Porsche 911 GT3 R) participated due to mechanical issues.
992 Class: Pole decided by barely a hundredth
The 992 class battle was equally fierce. China’s 610 Racing initially led in Q1 with Li Lin at the wheel, before Paul Meijer took the Mühlner Motorsport Porsche to 2m08.866, two seconds clear of its closest rival.
Session two saw Luc Breukers in Red Camel-Jordans.nl record 2m09.041, closing in on Mühlner’s lead. In the final session, Rik Breukers delivered a scintillating 2m08.006, securing class pole by just 0.049 seconds over Mühlner. 610 Racing finished third overall, taking 992-AM pole.
GT4, GTX and TCE-TCX poles
Cerny Motorsport’s BMW M4 GT4 (G82), driven by Bryce Fullwood, Spencer Propper and Damien John Hamilton, claimed GT4 pole by 0.08 seconds over Vortex V8 in GTX, piloted by Lionel Amrouche, Philippe Bonnel and Victor Moutinho.
In TCE-TCX, asBest Racing’s Cupra TCR DSG, piloted in qualifying by Pia Ohlsson, Lutz Obermann and Junichi Umemoto, will start from class pole.
Excitement builds ahead of Saturday’s race
The qualifying session set the tone for a thrilling 12-hour endurance race, with mere hundredths of a second separating top contenders. The inaugural Michelin 12H Malaysia promises intense action as teams from Asia and Europe fight for supremacy at Sepang.
