17 September 2016
Singapore, 17 September 2016 – The 2016 Ferrari Challenge Asia-Pacific fifth round Race-1 opened the weekend in support of the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix. The street circuit welcomed fans from across the world to witness some racing action. The practice session and qualifying session yesterday night under the floodlights proved to be essential for the 30 Ferrari Challenge drivers as most of them were new to the Marina Bay street circuit. Understanding the layout of the track, known as one of the most challenging in the world, is extremely vital for a driver to succeed in a race.
Trofeo Pirelli. Close racing was the order of the day for Race-1 here in Singapore. Florian Merckx and Steve Wyatt challenged each other to dominate the opening laps, with Merckx eventually taking the lead and then dominating the Trofeo Pirelli class. Unfortunately Wyatt suffered crash damage and retired on lap 5. It was the Belgian’s dream to be able to tell his children one day that he raced at the Singapore Grand Prix circuit and won a race there and this dream has now come true! Today’s win helped him close the gap to the Pirelli Championship leader Wyatt. After a safety car session, Renaldi Hutasoit from Indonesia, throughout a massive challenge on Merckx’s lead, but despite wheel-to-wheel battle on the closing laps, found it almost impossible to overtake Merckx. He came in second, while Alexander West from Sweden came in third.
Pirelli Am. The Pirelli AM class also provided the spectators with great racing. There were incidents aplenty here at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, as is the case with Formula 1 – though Gregory Teo from Singapore did his home fans proud by taking the victory and also setting the fastest lap of the race in class. Eric Cheung from Canada, despite a hard battle with Huilin Han from China, closed the winners podium in third place.
Coppa Shell. In the Coppa Shell classification, the win belonged to Chinese driver Yuan Yang who maintained his lead in class throughout the first race of the weekend. The other two podium places belonged to Liang Wang from China, who also set fastets lap, and Sam Lok from Hong Kong. Paul Montague from Australia took the Gentlemen’s Cup.
Schedule. All drivers kept their mental alertness in the Singapore heat and humidity today and are all looking forward to tomorrow’s race. Track action will continue for Race 2 at 4.00PM local time tomorrow.
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