Ferrari Challenge Asia-Pacific 2017 - Race 1 Chong, Ghandour, Zang and Kondo take wins on Singapore’s Street Circuit

Singapore, 16 September 2017 – The 2017 Ferrari Challenge Asia-Pacific sixth round Race-1 opened the weekend in support of the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix. 29 drivers took to the Marina Bay street circuit yesterday for their practice and qualifying sessions under very wet conditions. Fortunately, today’s weather was a great improvement under glorious and sunny skies.   Trofeo Pirelli. It was a rolling start for all the cars on the grid. The race saw lots of action on the very challenging track. Ringo Chong of Singapore did his home fans proud by starting in pole position and leading all the way until the safety car was activated to leave time to the marshalls to extricate the car of Kent Chen of Chinese Taipei after he lost control and hit the wall. The 488 Challenge proved to be very resistant as Chen could walk out safely. The safety car stayed on track for 4 laps and eventually the race restarted with 7 minutes left to go. Chong managed to keep his leadership at the restart while Huilin Han of China launched a massive challenge against Zen Low of Malaysia during the last minutes of the race but found it impossible to overtake him. He came in third while Low took second position.   Trofeo Pirelli AM. Ziad Ghandour from Lebanon took class pole in his first-ever Challenge race in Singapore, followed closely by Yanbin Xing of China and Ken Seto of Japan. The top four positions were incredibly tight in qualifying. In the race, Ghandour maintained his advantage, taking class victory with Seto overtaking Xing for second place.   Coppa Shell. Eric Zang of China triumphed in the Coppa Shell class after starting fastest from pole and managed to hold off Charles Chan of Hong Kong. Zang crossed the line first ahead of Chan, while Makoto Fujiwara of Japan was placed third. Hideo Honda of Japan was the winner of the Gentlemen Cup while Kanthicha Chimsiri from Thailand took the Ladies’ Cup.   Pirelli 458. Martin Berry of Australia took class pole in his first Challenge race in Singapore in his 458 Challenge EVO car and was leading his class from start to finish. Unfortunately, a 25-second penalty was imposed on him due to an overtaking infringement which cost him his podium win. The win eventually went to Tamotsu Kondo of Japan, followed closely by Sam Lok of Hong Kong and Min Xiao of China.   Schedule. Track action will continue for Race 2 at 3.15PM local time tomorrow.