Marco Giltrap and Chris van der Drift have driven to victory in the opening race of Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia at Fuji this evening.
Van der Drift started well, having qualified for the race on pole, taking the lead into Turn 1 over Dan Wells, who Jonathan Cecotto quickly pressured.
A fierce opening lap battle for second saw van der Drift pull to a 2.5-second lead in the Lamborghini Auckland entry as Cecotto worked past Wells and slowly began to pull a gap.
A Lap 11 Safety Car for contact in the field saw the field come together right before the 20-minute mark, with the pit window opening and seeing a flurry of cars come into the lane for their mandatory stop.
Van der Drift handed over the Giltrap to bring the car home in a 30-minute stint, the Kiwi emerging from the lane with the net lead while Cecotto passed his car to Li Qiang to hold second.
Giltrap got away to an excellent restart some 10 minutes later, pulling a gap over Li, who was under relentless pressure from behind. The Kiwi would eventually pull to a large gap over the pack as a fierce battle erupted behind, with Li a casualty and dropping to the rear after a Turn 1 spin.
Harmony Racing’s Xu Shenghu and Chen Weian would come home second, while Australian pairing Tony Walls and Jackson Walls were the first Pro-Ams home and rounded out the podium.
Victory rounds out a good day of action for New Zealanders at Fuji, with Liam Lawson having earlier qualified on the front row for tomorrow’s Super Formula race.
Giltrap will start tomorrow’s Super Trofeo race from fourth on the grid. The race begins at 2.35 pm and will be shown live on the Lamborghini Squadra Corse YouTube.
Header Image Source: Marco Giltrap (Facebook)
