Over the weekend, the Ferrari Challenge Asia-Pacific Round 6 returned to the Sepang International Circuit after this year’s first round racing here.
19 drivers raced on Sepang International Circuit over the weekend, the very same circuit as its F1 layout, experienced its high-speed nature and very challenging all-sort corners including T15 which connects those two famous long straights. The weather is hot and with high humidity, which was a big challenge to both drivers and racing cars as usual.
Steve Wyatt dominated the Trofeo Pirelli class from pole position and leading all the way in Race 1. The Australian driver also set the fastest lap time of 2:14.509 in the second lap of the race. The win over the weekend helped him close the gap to the Pirelli Championship leader Renaldi Hutasoit who finished second. And another Indonesian driver David Tjiptobiantoro came in third.
In the Pirelli AM class, Swedish driver Alexander West kept his strong performance of this weekend: he claimed his first-ever victory and was in fact the only driver to push Steve Wyatt in Race 1, although being in a different class. And Stefano Montesi from Italy got the second place in this class, ahead of Pirelli AM championship leader Xu Wei, from China.
In the Coppa Shell classification, the win belonged to Chinese driver Yanbin Xin who was eager to extend his four wins-in-a-row to five wins tomorrow. The other two podium places belonged to Japanese driver Ken Seto and Chinese driver Huilin Han.
The sixth and final round of the 2015 Asia Pacific Ferrari Challenge season came to a close under blazingly hot and hazy conditions at the Sepang race circuit. The 19 drivers in the field once again showcased pure driving exhilaration during Race 2.
Race 2 on Sunday
Sunday’s pole position went to Steve Wyatt, who won yesterday’s race. Wyatt lead the race from start to finish and once again stood proudly on top of the podium steps as the Australian national anthem filled the stadium. This puts him at the top of the standings with 215 points after Race 2. He beat Renaldi Hutasoit from Indonesia by 11.308 seconds, who is now second with 213 points. Following in third place was David Tjiptobiantoro, also from Indonesia.
The race was just as competitive for the Trofeo Pirelli AM drivers. With Alexander West from Sweden leading his group, there was a tight battle for second and third places, with only a gap of 2.917 seconds between the two at the finishing line. After several overtaking maneuvers, Wei Xu finished behind the Swede and Jung Hoon Youn from Korea finished in third place.
Huilin Han from China found himself on the top podium. Han was all smiles as he took victory in the Coppa Shell class. He commented during the press conference that he was extremely happy to win as it is his first since joining the competition. Fellow compatriot Yan Bing Xing, who won yesterday’s race, came in a very close second with only a gap of 0.662 seconds behind the leader. Bo Song, also from China, settled for a third place finish.
Ferrari Finali Mondiali will take place at Mugello, Italy from 05 to 08 November. All the drivers from Asia Pacific, Europe and North America will converge for the traditional end-of-season celebration.
