26 August 2017
Sepang, 26 August 2017 — Race 1 of the Ferrari Challenge Asia-Pacific round 5 took place today at Sepang International Circuit with a race packed full of action and excitement. Thirty-two drivers raced on Sepang International Circuit, a track with a high-speed nature and has very challenging corners. The weather was cloudy with an overcast sky and high humidity with track temperatures at 37 degree celsius, which was quite a challenge to both drivers and racing cars as usual.
Trofeo Pirelli. Starting from pole position and leading all the way in Race 1, Philippe Prette totally dominated the Trofeo Pirelli class. At the start Angelo Negro, who started second for a matter of thousandths, tried to keep up with his fellow Italian rival but in vain. He also had to contend with Zen Low, the local hero, as they were fighting wheel to wheel when Low overtook Negro after lap 1. The latter managed to regain his position after lap 4. The final result maintained with Negro in second position and Low in third.
Pirelli AM. In the Pirelli AM class, Ken Seto from Japan displayed magnificent racing skills when he took the lead after qualifying in fourth position in his class. Tiger Wu from Chinese Taipei came in second. Angie King from Philippines put up a very strong fight with Yanbing Xing from China. However, Xing managed to keep his third position after a 25-second penalty on King who caused Xing to spin towards the end of the race.
Coppa Shell. In the Coppa Shell classification, the win belonged to Chinese driver Eric Zang who was eager to extend his three wins-in-a-row to four wins tomorrow. The other two podium places belonged to Japanese driver Makoto Fujiwara, the leader of the standing, and Chinese Taipei driver Kent Chen. David Dicker from New Zealand was the winner of the Gentlemen Cup while Kanthicha Chimsiri from Thailand took the Ladies’ Cup.
Pirelli 458. In the Trofeo Pirelli 458 class, Martin Berry enjoyed a perfect start and blitzed his opponents as he led from start to finish, leaving Sky Chen from China to battle it out with Tamotsu Kondo from Japan for second place. Chen managed to hold off Kondo to cross the chequered flag in second. Track action will continue tomorrow for Qualifying practice 2 and Race 2 of this Ferrari Challenge Asia-Pacific weekend. Race 2 will take place at 2.15PM local time.