Kiwis Clay Osborne and Marco Giltrap qualified on the pole for both Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia races at The Bend and bounced back from troubles in the opener to win the finale.
The victory makes it three from four attempts in 2024 for the Lamborghini Auckland Super Trofeo entry, which is run by Absolute Racing.
Osborne took control for the first of two qualifying sessions and qualified on pole with a 1:48.2670 flyer, 0.4480 seconds faster than second-placed Leong Hon Chio.
Giltrap then completed the same feat in his qualifying run, with his 1:47.6550 effort over half a second ahead of the field.
A fast-starting second-row eclipsed Osborne off the line on the run to Turn 1 in Race 1, but the Kiwi held the inside line. However, side-on contact sent the Kiwi entry into a spin in front of the field, and several other drivers were caught out in the ensuing melee.
He returned to the pit lane under his own power behind the Safety Car and re-joined the queue in 16th, but with damage.
In five minutes of green flag running, Osborne returned to the top ten, and he sat seventh when the pit window opened 20 minutes into the race, but some 22 seconds behind leader Dan Wells.
The team switched drivers at the 24-minute mark, and once the running order was re-established once the window closed, Giltrap sat fourth but 13 seconds off the podium and 32 seconds behind leader Emilien Carde, who partnered Wells.
Any chance of eating into these margins came to an end in the final 10 minutes when the #7 Vortex Racegraph Am entry spun into Giltrap’s path. Despite his attempts to avoid a collision on the grass, the two cars made contact, damaging the Absolute Racing #84’s front left.
He returned to pit lane for the team’s third stop of the race but lost a lap on the leaders to come home 15th overall.
Giltrap, too, was pressured off the line in Race 2 but ran up the inside to take the lead back through the corner before slowly increasing his gap over the field.
Ten minutes into the 50-minute race, the 2023 Porsche Sprint Challenge Australia champion’s advantage sat at 4.5 seconds, but his gains were eliminated when a Safety Car was called shortly after.
Giltrap got away nicely on the 18th-minute restart but was pressured by Cecotto until he came in for his pit stop and driver change with 23 minutes remaining.
Just half a second separated the pair before Giltrap handed over to Osborne.
Once the window cycled through, Wells emerged as the Kiwi’s closest challenger, and he sat less than one second behind with 15 minutes remaining.
The two remained inseparable until the chequered flag, but Osborne did well not to present an opportunity for Wells to pass.
The Kiwi entry took the chequered flag just 0.803 seconds ahead, with third-placed Brian Lee a further 15 seconds in arrears.
Header Image: Lamborghini Squadra Corse
