Blancpain GT Series Asia: Aditya Patel looks to build on strong season start

“I am happy to race wherever Audi wants me to race.” Aditya Patel definitely has every reason to be on account of how his season campaign in the Blancpain GT Series Asia has gone so far. From competing in the one-make Audi R8 LMS Asia Cup, the 29-year-old has taken the next step of representing Audi in a high-profile, international sportscar racing series against other manufacturers.

He is partnered by 23-year-old Mitchell Gilbert from Australia who has competed in single-seat racing up until the FIA Formula 3 European Championship – where Arjun Maini previously competed and Jehan Daruvala currently competes.

Sharing a car to go racing is of course, the modus operandi of sportscar racing. The zenith of which is a prototype category like the LMP1-Hybrid class, where the biggest car manufacturers in the world produce what are essentially Formula 1 cars with clothes on and pick the best drivers to pilot them. Or even the privateer LMP1 class and the lower-spec LMP2 class, both of which Karun Chandhok has raced in at Le Mans, including this year.

It is the dream of any driver that ventures into sportscar racing to get to that level or even race in the GTE Pro class where the likes of Ferrari, Aston Martin, Ford and Porsche race heavily modified versions of road-going sportscars. Audi has turned its back at the LMP1 for now and it isn’t clear if they would ever consider a GTE Pro campaign.

And while thoughts like these are at the back of Patel’s mind, he is content with picking where to race while keeping in mind what arrangement works best for Audi.

“The final decision on where to race lies with me,” Patel told autoX. “But Audi is always involved in the decision-making process and they are keen for me to be racing in Asia.

“My involvement in the Asian Blancpain series has led to quite a bit of awareness not just in India but also among the Indian expats in South-East Asia as well as in Hong Kong. So it works out well for Audi who view both India and Asia in general as an important market.”

Also, there is the fact that he gets to drive a GT3-specification R8 LMS car that produces 552-bhp against a dry weight of 1,250kg. GT3 technical guidelines lay out many restrictions to keep the cars’ performance similar to encourage close racing and keep costs down. This means pairing with the right driver is key to get the most out of the car.

A win and two podiums in three of the four races over the first two rounds so far suggest a good partnership. Hopefully there is a lot more success to come.