08 April 2017
Abu Dhabi, 8 April 2017 – Philippe Prette, Ken Seto, Makoto Fujiwara and Tani Hanna dominated the second day of Round 1 of the 2017 Ferrari Challenge APAC in the beautiful setting of Yas Marina Circuit. The race was shortened due to a red flag the Race direction had to put out after the car of Josh Cartu damaged the safety barriers.
Trofeo Pirelli. Race-2 was quite a show right from the start in Trofeo Pirelli. The leaders turned the first corner unscathed with Philippe Prette ahead of Angelo Negro and Zen Low. The Italian driver, after the less than perfect start in Race-1, didn’t commit any mistake also setting the fastest lap of the race. Angelo Negro with today’s second place keeps the lead of the championship.
Pirelli Am. In the Pirelli Am class there was an early leader: Josh Cartu, after a fantastic lap in qualifying, kept the lead at the start and seemed ready for his first win at his fourth race in Ferrari Challenge. Then, with ten minutes to go, he lost control of his 488 Challenge at turn 17 hitting the barriers. Ken Seto took the lead but as a consequence of the crash Race direction had to red flag the race because of the damaged barriers. Seto won in front of Friday’s winner Tiger Wu and China’s Yanbin Xing. With a win and a second place Wu is leading the championship.
Coppa Shell. The Coppa Shell race saw the “driver of the weekend”, Makoto Fujiwara, doubling Friday’s win to leave Abu Dhabi with a strong leadership in the championship. Finishing in second place was, just like in Race-1, Kent Chen while third place went to Andrew Moon from Korea who overtook David Dicker with a perfect maneuver. The kiwi driver however was celebrated on the podium as he won the Gentlemen Cup trophy. On the podium there was also Kanticha Chimsiri, winner of the Ladies’ Cup.
Trofeo Pirelli 458. In the class reserved to the drivers at the wheel of the 458 Challenge EVO cars there was a lot to celebrate as the winner was local hero Tani Hanna who was able to revert Friday’s result beating Martin Berry. Third under the chequered flag was Hong Kong’s Sam Lok. Hanna and Berry are now very close in the championship standings and the duel will probably last for the entire season.