Following on from a terrific day for our Kiwi drivers in Sepang in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Race 1, the weekend has gotten even better for Liam Sceats and Chris van der Drift, with Sceats taking his debut win in only his second race in the series, with van der Drift putting the young Kiwi under huge pressure to come home second.
Qualifying for Race 2 went better for the Kiwi duo then race 1, with van der Drift and co-driver Todd Kingsford qualifying on the front row in second, with Sceats and his Polish co-driver Gustaw Wisniewski a place behind in third. Van der Drift started the race for his team, while Sceats’ team elected to have Wisnewski in the car.
After a tight first couple of corners, van der Drift held second place ahead of Wisnewski. However, it didn’t take long for the experienced van der Drift to pounce on the car ahead, taking the lead early on. With forty-five minutes remaining, van der Drift led, with Sceats’ teammate in third.
A safety car came out with forty minutes to go after the #17 car of Terrence Tse went off the track, bringing out the first caution period of the race. The race resumed with just over half an hour to go, with van der Drift easily driving away once the green flag dropped to once again hold a comfortable lead.
Sceats finally got his stint at around the half an hour mark, allowing him to be released to drive as hard as he could to catch the cars ahead. Not soon after, van der Drift handed the car over to Kingsford after a monumental stint, which left his team in a great position with twenty-five minutes remaining.
With fifteen minutes remaining, Kingsford held first while Sceats held second once again, with a gap of five seconds between them.
Although not the most experienced in GT cars, Sceats started to put in the stint of a veteran as the gap between first and second started to close. After stalking the back of Kingsford for quite a while, Sceats was finally able to close up and get the move done on the final lap, after a mega hour of racing. It truly came down to the wire, with Sceats being forced to defend right up until the final corner, with a winning margin of +0.435 seconds.
This hard fought victory marks Sceats debut win in only his second race in the series. With a background in open wheel racing across the world, this surely marks as a sign of huge potential for the young New Zealander.
After such a great weekend of racing in Sepang, it is set up to be a great season of racing in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia.
