NEWS

Lamborghini Bundang by Racegraph’s Peter Li and Jungwoo Lee celebrate race one victory at Fuji International Speedway

Charles Leong and Alex Denning extended their lead in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia PRO championship, with the SJM Theodore Racing drivers earning their fourth victory of the season in an electrifying race two at the 4.563km Fuji International Speedway. Lamborghini Bundang by Racegraph’s Peter Li and Jungwoo Lee celebrated their first championship win of the season in the opening race one, set against the backdrop of the country’s tallest and most sacred mountain. 

Leong and Denning finished second overall in the action-packed opening race of the weekend double-header, with fellow PRO drivers Ethan Brown and Nikolas Pirttilahti of Leipert Motorsport rounding out the podium.  Taking PRO-AM honours in race one was LK Motorsport by Climax Racing’s Lu Zhiwei and Ling Kang, ahead of Z. Speed’s Chen Chun Hua and Tim Zimmermann, who was making his Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia debut this weekend.

AM driver Jun Tashiro impressed throughout both races, the solo Promotion Racing driver the class victor in both encounters and finishing fifth overall in race one and sixth in race two.  Delta Garage Racing Team by Absolute racing’s Umar Abdullah and Dypo Fitramadhan were second on the AM podium in race one, followed by solo Thai driver Suttiluck Buncharoen of True Vision Motorsports Thailand.

Gerald Goh teamed up with Terence Tse in the sister Lamborghini Bundang by Racegraph Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 for a race one Lamborghini Cup win, ahead of class rivals Supachai Weeraborwornpong of Siamgas Corse and Batmobile Racing’s Kumar Prabakaran and Shinji Takei.

In Sunday’s dramatic race two, it was PRO-AM class winners Jiajun Song and Bendon Leitch of Leipert Motorsport who finished runner-up to Leong and Denning. Second on the PRO-AM podium and third overall were Chen and Zimmermann, while Li and Lee finished fourth overall and took the points for second in the PRO category. DW Evans GT’s Nazim Azman and Emilien Carde were third in the PRO category and fifth overall. 

Brothers Hairie Zairel Oh and Haziq Zairel Oh of HZO Fortis Racing by Absolute Racing were second in the AM class in race two, ahead of Vincenzo Ricci and Tianhao Du of Absolute Racing. 

Takei, racing solo in race two, was the Lamborghini Cup winner, ahead of Supachai, and Goh and Tse.

With three of six rounds now complete, Leong and Denning lead Brown in the PRO category by 24 points, with Li a further two points adrift. Liu Kai Shun and Cao Qikuan are the PRO-AM points leaders, 15 points ahead of Brian Lee. In the AM class, Buncharoen has a 16-point advantage over the Oh brothers, with Abdullah and Fitramadhan just a further two points behind in third. Supachai continues to lead the Lamborghini Cup, ahead of Prabakaran and Goh.

Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia continues next month with round four at South Korea’s Inje Speedium from July 18-20. 

Race one

Brendon Leitch led the field away from pole in the Leipert Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2, resisting an early challenge from SJM Theodore Racing’s Charles Leong, who started alongside the New Zealand driver on the front row. As Leong pushed for the lead, LK Motorsport by Climax Racing’s Ling Kang moved from seventh on the grid into third, ahead of Tim Zimmerman, making his Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia debut this weekend.

Fifth overall and leading the AM charge was Promotion Racing’s Jun Tashiro, joining the championship for the first time this season. Leipert Motorsport’s Ethan Brown started from third on the grid but fell back to eighth on the opening lap.

Having been disqualified from Saturday’s qualifying session following a technical infringement, BC Racing’s Gavin Huang started from the back of the field, but quickly began his charge through the field. By the end of the opening lap had made his way up to 14^th, improving to ninth by the time the pit window openend.

Zimmerman got past Ling on the second lap, putting the PRO-AM Z.Speed team into overall podium contention. As PRO-AM rival Leitch began to pull a gap to Leong, the Macau PRO driver tried to stay with the race leader, while also working to pull clear of Zimmerman.

There was an early battle for sixth between Racegraph’s Jungwoo Lee, Brown and DW Evans GT’s Nazim Azman, with Brown winning out as he tried to recover from his start. A few laps later, Brown gained a further position, getting past Tashiro.

Meanwhile, Siamgas Corse’s Supachai Weeraborwornpong led the way in the Lamborghini Cup ahead of class rival Terence Tse.

As the pit window opened, Leong, Azman and Huang were among the first teams to make their mandatory pit stops. Leong handed the reins to Alex Denning, while Azman handed over to Emilien Carde and Huang to teammate Jonathan Cecotto. Race leader Leitch stayed out, as did Zimmerman and Kang.

With 24 minutes remaining in the race and the pit window still open, Kam Lung Racing’s Bertram Lau found himself stationary at turn 5 and a full course yellow was called. As the race leaders came in for their pit stops, it was spot of bad luck for those who had pitted earlier.

Leipert Motorsport’s Song Jiajun continued to lead the race ahead of Chun Hua Chen who had taken over from Zimmerman and LK Motorsport by Climax Racing’s Lu Zhiwei. Nikolas Pirttilahti, who had taken over from Brown was fourth, ahead of Peter Li Zhicong in fifth, who had taken over from Lee. Tashiro continued to lead the AM class, but Racegraph’s Gerald Goh was now in the Lamborghini Cup lead ahead of Supachai.

The pit window closed and the full course yellow was converted to a safety car, before racing resumed with less than 12 minutes remaining on the clock. Song held the lead, with Chen and Lu close behind, while AM driver Suttiluck Buncharoen also threw himself into the mix as the True Vision Motorsports Thailand driver tried to get himself onto the leading lap. However, Song, Chen and Buncharoen had all overtaken the safety car before the line and post race were each given a 30-second penalty.

Song dropped back as Li led a furious charge from fifth, moving up to third a lap later, before snatching the lead on the following lap from Chen. Denning, too, made the most of the remaining time to find his way into the runner-up position and pushing Li for the win.

Li, Denning, Pirttilahti, Tashiro and Cecotto were soon all in lockstep, all figthing for the win in the final few laps. But it was Li who took the chequered flag from Denning by 0.799 seconds, earning Lamborghini Bundang by Racegraph their first PRO victory of the season, and Pirttilahti third on the podium. Fourth was Cecotto, a spectactular finish given that the team had started 23^rd.

Tashiro was the AM class victor, finishing fifth overall, ahead of PRO entry of Azman and Carde. Lu crossed the line seventh overall to give LK Motorsport by Climax Racing the PRO-AM win, while  Goh and Tse secured the Lamborghini Cup victory. 

Race two

Leipert Motorsport’s Nikolas Pirttilahti led the field away for the final time at Fuji Speedway, with AM driver Jun Tashiro of Promotion Racing alongside. SJM Theodore Racing’s Alex Denning quickly gained two places at the start to move up to third and then found a way past Tashiro to go second behind his PRO rival Pirttilahti. 

In the PRO-AM category it was Arrows Racing’s Weiron Tan who got the better start to advance three places to fourth on the opening lap, just ahead of SQDA-GRIT Motorsport’s Kohei Tokumasu. BC Racing’s Jonathan Cecotto, who again started from the back of the field following Saturday’s qualifying disqualification, was 11^th by the end of lap one after a lightning start. 

AM driver Dypo Fitramadhan Delta Garage Racing Team by Absolute Racing made contact with Lamborghini Cup driver Shinji Takei at turn one, dropping the Batmobile Racing driver to the back of the field. Fitramadhan would later serve a 10-second time penalty during the pit stop for the incident.

An early battle for fourth saw Tokumasu pile the pressure on Tan, with the Japanese driver getting past on lap seven, with Cecotto also closing in on the pair. But a lap later, and with 34 minutes remaining on the clock, the safety car was called out after Climax Racing’s Lu Zhiwai stopped on track.

Racing resumed just as the pit window open, but the race leaders stayed out on track. Denning tried to find a way around Pirttilahti but the Finn held firm. 

Following the compulsory pitstops and driver changeovers, BC Racing’s Gavin Huang emerged in in the lead, having take the reins from Cecotto. Charles Leong, having taken the wheel of the SJM Theodore Racing car from Denning, was running in second ahead of Ethan Brown, who had taken over from Pirttilahti. Huang, however, was soon penalized with a four second stop and go penalty for a short pit stop, ending the team’s chance at victory. Huang would pick up another penalty, this time for contact late in the race with Climax Racing’s Yao Liangbo, to finish 12^th overall.

Behind the PRO battle at the front of the field was Brian Lee, who led the PRO-AM class and was running fourth overall having taken over from Tokumasu. Race one winner Jungwoo Lee was fifth, but was facing pressure from DW Evans GT’s Nazmin Azman, Leipert Motorsport’s Brendon Leitch and Z.Speed’s Tim Zimmermann.

Tashiro continued to lead the AM class, but behind him both Yao and HZO Fortis Racing Team by Absolute Racing’s Haziq Zairel Oh were battling for second in class. Takei, racing solo after teammate Kumar Prabakaran was unavailable for race two, continued to lead the Lamborghini Cup class.

In the closing laps of the race, Brown, who had been running third, spun and rejoined, but dropped down the order to 15^th, before finishing ninth overall. 

When Huang served his penalty, Leong moved into the lead, with PRO-AM class leader Lee behind him and Leitch in third. Leitch began piling the pressure on Lee, a slight error by the Korean  dropping him down to seventh, where he finished just off the PRO-AM podium. 

Late contact between AM rivals Yao and Oh forced the latter to lose position and Yao, whose race ended after that contact, was later penalised a one-place  grid drop for the next race in Korea.
As Leong extended his lead  to an eventual 5.064 seconds by the chequered flag,  Zimmermann charged his way to third on the podium and second in PRO-AM class, with PRO drivers Lee finishing fourth and Azman fifth. 

Tashiro crossed the line sixth overall to take AM class honours, while Takei was the Lamborghini Cup winner.