New Zealanders Clay Osborne and Marco Giltrap have combined to win the opening two Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia races at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia.
Osborne started the opening race on the pole but lost slight ground off the rolling start to fall to third through Turn 1, with Jonathan Cecotto taking the lead from Daniel Wells.
The two leaders bolted on the first lap, extending the advantage over the Lamborghini Auckland entry by over two seconds, while Osborne, in turn, pulled clear from those behind.
Ten minutes in, Osborne was 2.6 seconds off second and 5.1 behind the leader as Cecotto continued to build his advantage over the following circuits.
He was seven seconds clear when Wells came in for his stop to hand over to Emilien Carde, which elevated the Kiwi entry to second.
They were just over 10 seconds behind the leader when Osborne pitted and handed over to Giltrap with 24 minutes remaining.
Giltrap emerged from the pit lane ahead of Carde, leaving them a net second. Cecotto swapped with Gavin Huang on the final circuit of the pit window, with his driving partner retaining the lead.
With 18 minutes remaining, only 3.5 seconds separated Huang and Giltrap, and the defending champion hit the front two circuits later when the leader ran wide through Turn 1.
Once in clear air, Giltrap quickly extended the advantage and was 4 seconds ahead with 12 minutes remaining.
That continued to grow lap by lap, and the Absolute Racing-run Huracan took the chequered flag by a comfortable 23.281 seconds.
Giltrap started Race 2 from second on the grid, next to Peter Li Zhicong, who held the inside line. Race 1 rivals Wells and Carde were fourth on the grid, while Gavin and Cecotto were eighth.
The Kiwi entry lost ground off the start, dropping to fourth in a four-wide battle through Turn 1, but returned to second, behind Li, a corner later.
The front two quickly created a gap on the field, with only Changwoo Lee able to go with them.
Giltrap finally hit the front 17 minutes in, and the clear air again worked in his favour as he quickly extended his advantage before handing over to Osborne for the final 21 minutes.
Osborne returned to the track with a healthy 10-second buffer and benefitted as a four-car scrap unfolded behind for second.
The 18-year-old crossed the line for the win by a healthy 5.4 seconds to sweep the round for the Kiwi pairing.
Giltrap and Osborne will return to Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia at The Bend on June 7-9.
Header Image: Lamborghini Squadra Corse
