Race 2 of the fifth round of the 2019 Ferrari Challenge Asia-Pacific at Fuji Speedway Circuit took place under cloudy but dry conditions today. It was a clean and straight-forward race which saw complete Japanese domination in the Trofeo Pirelli AM class where Yudai Uchida of Rosso Scuderia took the win. Both Makoto Fujiwara of Cornes Shiba and Andrew Moon of Forza Motor Korea notched up their second victories of the weekend in their respective classes.
Trofeo Pirelli AM. It was once again a complete Japanese lock out at the front of the grid with Uchida starting in pole position. He drove a perfect race as he clinched an authoritative win at the end of race 2 with an 11-sec gap to his nearest rival, leading the race from pole to flag without succumbing to the pressure put on by Nobuhiro Imada of Rosso Scuderia and Go Max of M Auto Hiroshima, who started 2nd and 3rd on the grid respectively. Max once again displayed his skills when he overtook Imada immediately at the start. However, he could not repeat yesterday’s feat of overtaking leader Uchida throughout the race, as the latter settled on a pace that was simply unreachable for his rivals. Finally, Go Max took second position while Imada came in third. With his fourth position, same result as yesterday, Philippe Prette kept his leadership at the top of the standings with 183 points. Go Max is second with 144 points and Imada is third with 77 points.
Coppa Shell. At the end of a textbook race Makoto Fujiwara of Cornes Shiba, who started from pole once again, exercised full control throughout the 18 laps to clinch his second win of the weekend. David Pun of Blackbird Concessionaires HK started second in class and tried to mount a serious challenge to Fujiwara when the light turned green. However, his race ended early when he spun out at the end of the first lap. His nearest rival, Yanbin Xing of CTF Beijing, took advantage to overtake Pun and tried valiantly to close the gap to Fujiwara but could not find his extra gear to mount a serious challenge and crossed the line in second. Behind Xing, there was a wheel to wheel battle between Hiroyuki Kishimoto of Cornes Shiba and David Dicker of Continental Cars Auckland till lap 10, when Dicker went slightly wide and Kishimoto seized the opportunity to race ahead, finishing on the last step of the podium. With two second place finishes in 2 races, Xing now tops the standings. But hot on his heels with just 4 points behind him is Fujiwara with 132 points and in third place is Michael Choi with 130 points, making this the closest contested Class in the Series.
Coppa Shell AM. Andrew Moon was unrivalled and worthy of the well-deserved achievement in his class as he once again took the win in Race 2. With this win, Moon is at the top of the standings table with 170 points. Behind him a fierce battle raged on between Atsushi Iritani of Cornes Osaka, Ryuichi Kunihiro of M Auto Hiroshima and Kent Chen of Modena Motori Taiwan, who constantly switched positions throughout the race. It was Iritani who prevailed in the end to take second position while Kunihiro took the last step on the podium. Kunihiro also took the Gentlemen Cup while Kanthicha Chimsiri (Cavallino Motors Bangkok) took the Ladies’ Cup. Behind leader Moon, Min Xiao of CTF Beijing is second in the standings with 99 points and Chen is third with 93 points.
Schedule. The next round of the Ferrari Challenge Asia Pacific will return to the Singapore street circuit in support of the Formula One Grand Prix from 20th – 22nd September.