Uchida, Akita and Kim take pole to victory

The third round of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli Japan, marking the midpoint of the 2024 season, took place at Sportsland SUGO. A total of 23 cars, specifically the 488 Challenge Evo, participated in Race 1, which consisted of 18 laps and a 4-lap safety car stop during the race. Yudai Uchida (Rosso Scuderia) emerged as the winner of the Trofeo Pirelli, AKITA (Cornes Nagoya) won in the Trofeo Pirelli Am category, and Phil Kim (Nicole Competizione) took first place in the Coppa Shell with a pole position in each class, Ryutaro Saito (Mid Sapporo) took his second win of the season.

Trofeo Pirelli. Trofeo Pirelli. In the top class, given the absence of Nobuhiro Imada, it was a two-way battle between Uchida and Anna Inotsume (Ferrari Japan), although the reigning champion brought all his experience to bear by controlling the race pace at every stage. In the Trofeo Pirelli Am, AKITA, the current points leader, secured pole position and continued to show impressive speed by finishing third overall. During the race, both Cold MAX (Cornes Osaka), who qualified second, and Motohiko Isozaki (Cornes Shiba), managed not to get too far behind the leader, but never found themselves in a position to attack him, allowing Akita to take his second win of the season.

Coppa Shell. In Coppa Shell, Phil Kim, who has shown speed in every race in his debut this season, finally took pole position. He was also fast enough to finish 4th overall. Yasutaka Shirasaki (Rosso Scuderia), the current points leader, came from 2nd place in qualifying and battled until the final lap, but Kim held on until the end to take his first win and his first pole-to-win.

Meanwhile, in Coppa Shell Am, Yusaku Maezawa (Cornes Shiba), who had taken pole position, collided with another car at the first corner on lap 4 and spun, retiring from the race. Ryutaro Saito (MID Sapporo), who started from 2nd place in qualifying, now takes the top position and his second win in his debut season. Points leader Masafumi Hiwatashi (European Version) made a strong push in the middle of the race, but was unable to catch up to the leader and finished 2nd.

On Sunday the Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo cars will return to the track for qualifying from 8.45am to 9.15am, while Race 2 will start at 1.45pm. The times indicated are l