Hojust Racing’s Afiq Yazid and Toshiyuki Ochiai took a podium finish in Race 2 of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo World Final, the newly-crowned Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia Pro-Am champions second in class. Forced to retire from Saturday’s Race 1, the pair finished fourth in the Pro-Am category in the World Final, which sees drivers from the Asia, America and Europe series gohead-to-head in a thrilling end-of-season competition.
New Zealand’s Brendon Leitch, runner-up in the Lamborghi ni Super Trofeo Asia Pro-Am class, was fifth in the Pro-Am WorldFinal along with Leipert Motorsport team mate Massimo Vignali.
Luck was not with the Pro and Pro-Am Asiaentries’ in Race 2. Leipert Motorsport’s Dan Wells lined up on the third row of the grid and, after team mate Philip Kadoorie’s early retirement from Race 1,the pair were hoping for a podium finish in Race 2. But Wells lost a wheel after contact with another car on the opening lap and was forced into the pits.While he rejoined the race at the back of the field, Kadoorie retired later onin the race.
There were also early retirements for VSRacing drivers Alex Au and Yuki Nemoto. Fourth in Pro-Am in Race 1, the duo was also looking for a podium finish, but contact with a rival forced Au into thegravel and put paid to their plans.
It was also a challenging weekend for FFFRacing Team’s Juuso Puhakka and Takashi Kasai. The pair were sixth in Race 1,but an unlucky puncture in Race 2 just before the pit window opened put themback a lap.
For Yazid and Ochiai, however, a determined effort saw the pair finish second in Race 2, and just 0.475 seconds behind theclass winner. Ochiai drove a strong opening stint before handing off to Yazid,who then pushed to gain four places overall. While Yazid was able to close inon his rival for top spot in the class, the Malaysian ran out of time and crossed the line second.
With the Pro and Pro-Am drivers racing together in the World Final, the Am and Lamborghini Cup drivers were paired up for their two World Final races.
New Asia Am champion Han Huilin was the best Asia class finisher in the World Finals, with sixth in the opening race and seventh in Sunday’s Race 2.
In the Lamborghini Cup, GDL Racing driver Gabriele Murroni was the top ranked Asia driver with a fifth-place finish in the category. Murroni was just one place off a class podium finish in the opening race, but was unable to make gains in Race 2.
After contact in the opening race forced them into an early retirement, Takamichi Matsuda and Dai Yoshihara of yh RacingTeam had a strong showing in Race 2 to finish just off the podium. Mid-waythrough the opening stint, Yoshihara was battling Han and Cameron Cassels from the America series for seventh position overall. Cassels got past Han to move up to seventh, before Yoshihara also made a move on Han to go eighth. After the handover, Matsuda held the position until the closing laps of the race. Theall-Japanese team would finish fourth in the Lamborghini Cup and were sixth in the category in the World Final.
With the 2019 season now complete,attention turns to the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia 2020, the series’ ninthseason that will take drivers across Malaysia, Japan and China, before the season finale and World Final in Misano Adriatico, Italy.
Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia
2019 Calendar
Sepang (MAL) 6/7April
Suzuka (JPN) 22/23 June
Fuji (JPN) 6/7 July
Yeongam (KOR) 3/4 August
Shanghai (CHN) 7/8 September
Jerez (ESP) 24/27 October
World Final
Jerez (ESP) 24/27 October
2020 Calendar
Sepang (MAL) 27-29 March
Fuji (JPN) 22-24 May
Suzuka (JPN) 19-21 June
TBA TBA
Shanghai (CHN) 11-13 September
Misano Adriatico (ITA) 29-30 October
World Final 2020
Misano Adriatico (ITA) 31 October –November 1
中文
ENGLISH