Ferrari Challenge Asia Pacific kick-started the 2016 season at the legendary sanctuary of motorsports, Suzuka Circuit, today with 35 drivers from 12 countries participating in the opening race. The 5.807KM circuit saw a blistering race among the drivers with many fans witnessing the fierce battle on the first day.
Steve Wyatt, the 2015 Asia Pacific Challenge champion, made his return and was looking forward to the start of the 2016 season. He faced a strong field of contenders, including Florian Merckx who was third in the Trofeo Pirelli 2015 classification in Europe. Florian lost his pole position and dropped two positions during the qualifying round due to a penalty when he crossed the white line. However, he managed to fight his way to the front and lead the pack all the way to first spot. Close behind him is Renaldi Hutasoit from Indonesia and third was Toru Tanaka from Japan, who had to fight off both Steve Wyatt and George Chou from Taiwan.
Pirelli AM also resulted in a dramatic close race between James Weiland from America and Eric Cheung from Canada with less than a second separating them. In the end, Weiland triumphed over Cheung and took the first position for Pirelli AM classification. He commented during the press conference that he was really happy to compete in one of the best circuits in the world, Suzuka, and it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for him to join the APAC Challenge. The track was great and he loved the speed and cornering that the circuit offered. In third position was Hidehiko Hagiwara from Japan who came in at 28’57.677.
In the Coppa Shell classification, it was Liang Wang from China at 29’16.625, followed by Ken Seto from Japan in a time of 29’17.247 and Yugo Tanabe, also from Japan, who came in third at 30’07.357. It was a vast improvement for Wang who only managed 2 podium finishes in 13 races last season. When asked what preparations he had done to win the race, he remarked that he prepared himself better mentally and emotionally this season.
Race 2
Race 2 of Ferrari Challenge Asia Pacific 2016 season Round 1 was held at Suzuka Circuit on Sunday, the second day of “Ferrari Racing Days Suzuka 2016”. Despite cloudy skies with the rain from the night before, thousands of fans enthusiastically gathered for the event to enjoy the fast and furious qualifying and final races just like the day before.
It was a very fierce one-two battle between Renaldi Hutasoit from Indonesia, who started from pole, and Florian Merckx from Belgium. Both seemed to be competing in a race of their own from the start. They only managed to complete 10 laps before the safety car entered the track after an incident. Merckx was leading the race but was being challenged by Hutasoit, before the activation of the safety car. However, because Merckx passed a back marker whilst under a yellow flag, he was penalised and dropped to third position from first. Steve Wyatt from Australia took the second spot with a race time of 22’04.967.
Hutasoit commented on his win: “I love the Suzuka track with its layout, many elevations and curves, which is challenging. But I believe I won because this kind of track design suits my driving style very much. I also changed my strategy based on the experience from yesterday’s race and tried to conserve my tires during the race against Merckx. I wish I had two more laps to go as I was ready for a more aggressive race with more attacks. But I was lucky in the end to finish the race first.”
It was the second win in a row for newcomer James Weiland from USA when he found himself at the top of the podium once again. Weiland started first in his class and lead the way throughout the race. He came in at a time of 23’44.978. Weiland commented that he was very surprised at his second victory but was very happy with the results. Travelling to Japan had been awesome for him as the drivers and people in the race were very nice and he had a fantastic race. Coming in second in the Trofeo Pirelli AM classification was Eric Cheung from Canada, who was also in second position in Race 1. Xin Jin from China was third with a time of 23’50.797.
Liang Wang from China found success for the second time in the Coppa Shell classification. With a valiant race drive, he maintained his lead in his class throughout the race, with Makoto Fujiwara from Japan close on his tail. Finally Fujiwara finished a close second with a time of 24’00.233 and in third position was rookie Grant Baker from New Zealand.
The next round of the Asia Pacific Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli 2016 will take place in Abu Dhabi from April 14 – 16.
