The first round of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli Japan 2024 went to the archives with the success of Yuga Furutani (Ferrari Japan) and Yasutaka Shirasaki (Rosso Scuderia) who repeated their brilliant performances in Race-1 to take the top step of the Suzuka podium in the Trofeo Pirelli and Coppa Shell. At the end of a hard-fought thirty minutes, Kanji Yagura (Cornes Osaka) and Ryutaro Saito (MID Sapporo) won their respective Am classes.
Trofeo Pirelli. Spring temperatures, sunshine and the beautiful backdrop of cherry blossom trees set the scene for the second race of the weekend in the Mie Prefecture.
In Race-1 Furutani had been able to take the lead from the very first metres, in today's race he was forced into an intense and prolonged duel with Yudai Uchida (Rosso Scuderia), whose decisive move at the opening corner saw him take the lead. With Nobuhiro Imada (Rosso Scuderia) closely observing the confrontation between the two, the young Japanese talent tried on several occasions to overtake the reigning champion, particularly at the final chicane, but only succeeded in the second half of the race, taking advantage of a slight drop in performance by a tenacious Uchida.
From then on, thanks also to some fast laps, Furutani created a sufficient margin to keep Uchida in check, who was now busy fending off Imada's attacks. The latter, less than eight minutes from the chequered flag, tried to overtake his teammate, attacking on the inside of Uchida but contact was inevitable between the two. Uchida's 488 Challenge Evo ended up spinning and the Japanese driver did well not to get stuck in the gravel, resuming the race in third position. The contact between the two drivers was catalogued as a racing accident by the stewards.
In the Trofeo Pirelli Am, meanwhile, Kanji Yagura won his sixth Challenge race, beating Cold Max (Cornes Osaka) and Akita (Cornes Nagoya), who were the protagonists of a long, spectacular and fair confrontation throughout the thirty-minute race.
Coppa Shell. The star of the Coppa Shell with a fantastic one-two, Yasutaka Shirasaki engaged in a thrilling duel with Masaru Yoneda (Cornes Osaka) who had occupied the first position for more than two-thirds of the race. Once in the lead, the Rosso Scuderia driver built up a significant advantage to take a well-deserved victory, while Yoneda had no problem controlling Noriki Kawasaki (Cornes Shiba), third at the finish. Ryuichi Kunihiro (M-Auto Italia), who had passed under the chequered flag in third position, suffered a penalty that saw him add 30 seconds to his overall race time, slipping back in the standings.
In the Am class, Ryutaro Saito took his first win in the category at the end of a race where the advantage over the runner-up Masafumi Hiwatashi (European Version) fluctuated between ten and fifteen seconds. Completing the podium was Norikazu Shibata (Cornes Osaka) who beat Fukuda Kenichi (Cornes Osaka) by just six tenths of a second.
Next round. The Fuji Superspeedway circuit will host the second round of the Japanese series on 11 and 12 May. The track, which stands not far from the slopes of Mount Fuji, hosted the opening race of the Ferrari Challenge Japan in 2023.