Last weekend, the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Asia race series held its first ever race in China, at the Ordos International Circuit. It was the third stop around Asia (after Sepang, Malaysia and Fuji, Japan) for the fastest one-make racing series in the world and allowed many of the Series’ international drivers to experience the challenging Ordos circuit. Constructed in 2010, the circuit is 3.751km long and consists of 18 turns, with the long straight allowing for a top speed of 296km/h.
“With China being one of Lamborghini’s most important markets worldwide, we are extremely excited to being the Super Trofeo to Ordos and demonstrate to Chinese consumers yet another dimension of the Lamborghini brand.” said Super Trofeo Asia Series co-ordinator, Cristiano Iverni. “The fact that the Asia Series 2012 will hold four of its races in China this year clearly shows Lamborghini’s strong commitment to this market, and through our motorsport activities, we look forward to supporting Lamborghini’s growth in China for the foreseeable future.”
The race weekend started off with a bang, literally, with an impressive collision in qualifying between Japanese car #10 (Suzuki) and Taiwanese car #38 (Chao), preventing both from taking part in the first race on Saturday afternoon. Race 1 started off in sunny weather, with favourites Liu/Rizzo (#37) from China in third, following Ramli (#9) from Malaysia and Charlz (#99) from Singapore in pole position. After an unfortunate debut in Sepang, Ramli (or better known as Jejai here in Malaysia) surprised spectators in Fuji, jumping from 14th to 2nd position between Race 1 and Race 2. Now competing in Ordos, Jejai pulled off an incredible performance to secure first place with a best lap time of 1:46:522, ahead of previously undefeated Liu/Rizzo (#37), with Charlz (#99) following closely in third.
Race 2 on Sunday saw Hong Kong team Chan/Tse (#88) climb up the ranks from their 6th position on grid to eventually secure 3rd place on podium. Both Suzuki (#10) and Chao (#38) were determined to compete on Sunday, and following an incredible show of team spirit and commitment, had their cars repaired overnight to meet official safety standards to join the race. Ahead of the pack were Liu/Rizzo (#37) and Jejai (#9) who kept the pressure on throughout the race, overtaking each other back and forth, making for some very exciting racing to entertain the crowd of spectators. After a long battle, Jejai eventually finished first on the podium for the second time; enough to perhaps silence his critics and earning him sweet, sweet redemption.
The next race weekend will be held at Guangdong International Circuit on September 15-16, and promises even more exciting performances from the competitors. We’ll do our best to report on Jejai’s progress throughout.
Results:
Race 1
1. Ramli (#9), Malaysia
2. Liu/Rizzo (#37), China
3. Charlz (#99)< Singapore
4. Choi (#8), Hong Kong
5. Wizer/Zheng (#66), China
6. Taniguchi (#12), Japan
7. Chan/Tse (#88), Hong Kong
8. Cheng/Lok (#2), China
9. Chen (#3), China
10. Yuan/Bao (#16), China
11. Chou (#24), Taiwan
12. Xu/Zhang (#7), China
13. Kuan/Liu (#22), China
14. Han/Lu (#36), Taiwan
Not classified
15. Suzuki (#10), Japan
16. Chao (#38), Taiwan
Race 2
1. Ramli (#9), Malaysia
2. Liu/Rizzo (#37), China
3. Chan/Tse (#88), Hong Kong
4. Chen (#3), China
5. Yuan/Bao (#16), China
6. Taniguchi (#12), Japan
7. Wiser/Zheng (#66), China
8. Chou (#24), Taiwan
9. Xu/Zhang (#7), China
10. Han/Lu (#36), Taiwan
11. Chao (#38), Taiwan
12. Kuan/Liu (#22), China
13. Suzuki (#10), Japan
Not classified
14. Cheng/Lok (#2), China
15. Choi (#8), Hong Kong
16. Charlz (#99), Singapore
