Kiwi Marco Manson produced an impressive drive for Pinnacle Motorsport to win the opening Formula Trophy Malaysia race at Sepang International Circuit as part of the support categories for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Manson, the reigning New Zealand Formula Ford champion, started fourth but immediately put himself into contention with an excellent opening lap.
The Pinnacle Motorsport driver made a particularly strong launch and capitalised when Ben Anh Nguyen and Aaron Mehta took a relatively conservative approach into Turn 1. Manson cleared both Evans GP cars during the opening lap and quickly turned his attention to race leader Mulder.
Mulder had started from pole after topping qualifying and initially maintained the lead, but Manson remained close enough to apply sustained pressure.
It developed into the decisive battle of the race.
Mulder showed strong outright speed but, in one of his first races at this level, his relative inexperience in defending allowed Manson to remain within striking distance rather than letting the Evans GP driver establish a comfortable advantage.
Manson repeatedly applied pressure and eventually found his opportunity with a move into Turn 4, taking over the lead and putting Pinnacle Motorsport at the head of the field.
Once in front, Manson controlled the remainder of the 11-lap race and took the chequered flag after 29 minutes and 19.010 seconds.
He also underlined his pace by recording the fastest lap of the race, a 2:12.344 on lap two.
In the second race Manson finished fifth having faced a considerably different challenge in Race 2.
The Pinnacle Motorsport driver started seventh after his second-fastest qualifying lap left him further down the order than he had been for the opening race.
Manson again made progress and crossed the line among the leading group, but received a five-second time penalty for forcing Axle Sports driver Inigo Anton off the track at Turn 9 early in the race.
The penalty left Manson classified fifth, 6.919 seconds behind the winner.
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