Podiums for Lester at Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Asia series

The second stop of the 2016 Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Asia series kicked off today at Japan’s famed Suzuka Circuit, a first for the series and one of two stops in the championship to be held in Japan this year.

Race 1
The Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Asia series has held a race in Japan every year since its conception, but the 2016 season marks the first time the competition has visited Suzuka. The race weekends in Japan typically see a good number of local drivers and teams taking part, this year being no exception. Under blue and cirrus skies with warm temperatures, drivers took to the grid to do battle in a new arena.

Earlier in the day, the qualifying session for race one went well for the Japanese drivers, with tree of the top four grid positions held by local teams. AM driver Toshiyuki Ochiai of Japan and PRO teammate Afiq Yazid of Malaysia put in the fastest time, followed by another PRO-AM duo, Dilantha Malagamuwa of Sri Lanka and Armaan Ebrahim of India in second. Local driver Yudai Uchida, and his New Zealand teammate Jono Lester came in third, chased by Japanese AM driver Takeshi Kimura.

After a safety car start, the lead group maintained their positions for the first few laps. By lap 6 however, Takeshi Kimura had slipped down one place into fifth due to pressure from Chinese racing duo Zhang Dasheng and Li Chao who went into fourth, with Andrew Haryanto of Indonesia in sixth and Japanese PRO-AM team Akira Mizutani and Hajime Noma in seventh.

By lap 11, Uchida and Lester had slipped right down to sixth, allowing Zhang Dasheng and Li Chao into third, followed by Takeshi Kimura in fourth and Akira Mizutani and Hajime Noma now in fifth; however with a skillful and aggressive follow up, the pair managed to pull of an incredible comeback and by lap 15 were back up to second place, beating back Takeshi Kimura who was now in third. Meanwhile, Malagamuwa and Ebrahim had slipped to fourth, with Zhang Dasheng and Li Chao in fifth.

By lap 19 Uchida and Lester were up in pole and holding on tight, pursued by Yazid and Ochiai in second and Malagamuwa and Ebrahim in third, but as the checkered flag fell their pursuers were unable to catch them, the final win going to Uchida and Lester, with Yazid and Ochiai in second, followed by Malagamuwa and Ebrahim in third. Larry De George from the USA and Monaco born teammate Cedric Sbirrazzuoli put in a good performance, starting in at twelfth on the grid and finishing fourth overall, with less than half a second separating them from a spot on the podium.

The Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo represents the essence of gentlemanly sportsmanship, and is the perfect platform to express a love for motorsport and racing. With race 2 at Suzuka green-lighting at 11am JST tomorrow, drivers will be looking forward to making the most of the qualifying 2 positions as the competition heats up in the second round of Asian Super Trofeo racing this season.

Race 2
The second day of racing in Suzuka at the 2016 Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Asia series got off to a flying start this morning as drivers and teams again took to the track for the second and final race of the weekend to be held at Suzuka. After yesterday’s tightly arranged ranking, especially in the PRO-AM class, competitors were eager to get back to the action and claim a spot on the podium. Last night’s showers had wet down the track, and it was under forebodingly grey skies that racers took to the grid, the Huracán race cars all still fitted with slicks however as the rain had since abated.

The Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Asia series holds a race in Japan every year, but 2016 is the first year the competition has made its way to Suzuka. Both Japanese and international drivers in the series expressed excitement about the new race venue in the run up to the competition. Local drivers did well in the first round qualifying on Saturday, the second round proving to be no different, with five of the top seven grid spots claimed by Japanese teams.

Yesterday morning saw qualifying round two completed, with race one winners Yudai Uchida of Japan and teammate Jono Lester from New Zealand also taking the top spot on the grid for race two. The USA’s Larry De George and Monaco national Cedric Sbirrazzuoli were looking to get on the podium having qualified in second, putting them in a much better position than twelfth on the grid as they were in race one. Zen Low from Malaysia and Italian teammate Max Wiser qualified in third, followed by Toshiyuki Ochiai and Afiq Yazid, also from Malaysia, uncharacteristically off the top three spots. Qualifying in fifth was Hironori Takeuchi of Japan, followed by fellow Japanese driver Takeshi Kimura in sixth and Japanese PRO-AM duo Akira Mizutani and Hajime Noma in seventh.

After a rolling safety car start, the group started jostling for positions immediately, with local drivers Mizutani and Noma getting off to a cracking race, pushing up into pole in the first lap, followed by Low and Wiser, with Uchida and Lester slipping into third and De George and Sbirrazzuoli going into fourth. After a slower than usual qualifying lap for the pair, Dilantha Malagamuwa of Sri Lanka and Armaan Ebrahim of India were now in fifth having qualified ninth on the gird.

By lap four Low and Wiser had taken pole position, followed by Uchida and Lester. De George and Sbirrazzuoli by this time had managed to find their way back into the top three, but were pursued closely by Mizutani and Noma, now down into fourth. Malagamuwa and Ebrahim were now in fifth, with Ochiai and Yazid falling to sixth. In the ninth lap there was no change to the top three positions, however the middle of the group saw several shuffles, with Ochiai and Yazid moving back up to fourth, with Andrew Haryanto of Indonesia moving up to fifth with Samson Chan and George Chou moving up to sixth from eleventh.

By lap eighteen Uchida and Lester had pulled back into pole, after which we saw an intense battle for the win, with Ochiai and Yazid coming back with a vengeance to take back the lead away from Uchida and Lester, with Low and Wiser in third, seeing that De George and Sbirrazzuoli were again held off the podium. As the checkered flag fell, Ochiai and Yazid were in pole, followed by Uchida and Lester in second, with Low and Wiser in third.

With the weekends racing drawn to a close, drivers and teams now look forward to another first for the series. Next month for the first time ever, the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo heads to Thailand to race the Buriram United International Circuit. The track, the first FIA Grade 1 and FIM Grade A circuit in Thailand represents a fresh challenge to most of the competitors, so will undoubtedly be a memorable race outing for all. Don’t miss the thrilling return to action on July 23.

Race 2 Overall and PRO-AM Raking

1st T. Ochiai / A. Yazid
2nd Y. Uchida / J. Lester
3rd Z. Low / M. Wiser

Race 2 AM Ranking

1st A. Haryanto
2nd Takeshi Kimura
3rd S. Chan / G. Chou

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