Reigning Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia PRO champion Chris van der Drift made a masterful return to the championship at South Korea’s Inje Speedium, taking two pole positions and two victories in his Absolute Racing Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 over a thrilling double-header in the mountains of Gangwon Province. However, two well-deserved podium finishes on their track debut saw SJM Iron Lynx Theodore Racing’s Charles Leong and Miki Koyama move to the top of the PRO leaderboard with six races of the season remaining.
Race one saw Leong and Koyama finish second behind van der Drift, with DW Evans GT’s Dan Wells and Emilien Carde third overall. Madness Racing Team’s André Couto and Chen Fangping continued their PRO-AM winning streak with another class win ahead of DW Evans GT’s Nikolas Pirttilahti and Thomas Yu Lee, with Arrows Racing’s Jazeman Jaafar and Selim Rafique joining the category podium in third.
Just missing out on an overall podium in fourth and were YK Motorsports by Star Performance Thai duo Nattanid ‘Kat’ Leewattanavalagul and Dechathorn ‘Phu’ Phuakkarawut who added another AM win to their impressive tally. Local hero Brian Lee had been running third overall and leading the class in the SQDA-GRIT Motorsport Lamborghini Seoul car until a last-lap spin saw his hopes crushed, although a quick recovery meant he took second in class ahead of True Visions Motorsports Thailand’s Suttiluck Buncharoen. Race one Lamborghini Cup honours went to Siamgas Corse’s Supachai Weeraborwornpong from class pole, who headed home Iron Lynx’s Kumar Prabakaran with HZO Fortis Racing Team by Absolute’s Haziq and Hairie Oh third.
Race two saw another dominant win by van der Drift, but the battle for second place was tense after Arrows Racing’s Jonathan Cecotto reeled in Leong over the closing laps to snatch the position moments from the flag. Couto and Chen took their second PRO-AM win of the weekend in race two ahead of Yu Lee and Pirttilahti and Jafaar and Rafique. This time AM honours went to Korea’s Lee, an impressive fourth overall, ahead of title rivals Kat and Phu and Madness Racing Team’s Luo Haowen and Song Jiajun. Malaysia’s Oh brothers took victory in the Lamborghini Cup, ahead of fellow contenders Prabakaran and Weeraborwornpong.
Leong and Koyama now lead the PRO class at the mid-way point of the season with a five-point advantage over Wells and Carde, while Huang and Cecotto lie just three points behind them. Couto and Chen strengthen their lead of the PRO-AM standings to 21 points clear of Pirttilahti and Yu Lee, while Jaffar and Rafique also remain very much in title contention. Brian Lee has reduced the lead of Kat and Phu in the AM standings to four points, while despite the Oh brothers maintaining their lead in the the Lamborghini Cup, title rivals Weeraborwornpong and Prabakaran both had strong weekends in Korea.
It won’t be long before Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia returns to action, next time at Japan’s 4.563km Fuji International Speedway located in the foothills of Mount Fuji from August 16-18.
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