Last weekend Ferrari Challenge Asia Pacific kick-started the 2016 season at the legendary sanctuary of motorsports, Suzuka Circuit, with 35 drivers from 12 countries participating in the opening race. The 5.807 km circuit saw a blistering race among the drivers with many fans witnessing the fierce battle on track for the two days it happened.
In the Trofeo Pirelli, It was a very fierce one-two battle between Renaldi Hutasoit from Indonesia, who started from pole, and Florian Merckx from Belgium. Both seemed to be competing in a race of their own from the start. They only managed to complete 10 laps before the safety car entered the track after an incident.
Merckx was leading the race but was being challenged by Hutasoit, before the activation of the safety car. However, because Merckx passed a back marker whilst under a yellow flag, he was penalised and dropped to third position from first. Steve Wyatt from Australia took second spot.
In the Pirelli AM, It was the second win in a row for newcomer James Weiland from USA when he found himself at the top of the podium once again. Weiland started first in his class and lead the way throughout the race. He came in at a time of 23’44.978. Coming in second in the Trofeo Pirelli AM classification was Eric Cheung from Canada, who was also in second position in Race 1. Xin Jin from China was third with a time of 23’50.797.
Liang Wang from China found success for the second time in the Coppa Shell classification. With a valiant race drive, he maintained his lead in his class throughout the race, with Makoto Fujiwara from Japan close on his tail. Finally Fujiwara finished a close second with a time of 24’00.233 and in third position was rookie Grant Baker from New Zealand.
The next round of the Asia Pacific Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli 2016 will take place in Abu Dhabi from April 14 – 16.
