Chris van der Drift powered to a commanding 13-second victory in the opening race of Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia at Fuji Speedway before finishing third in the finale.
Competing in the Lamborghini Auckland Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 as a solo driver, van der Drift swept qualifying to secure pole position for both races.
In the opener, he started alongside the Promotion Racing #99 shared by Super GT Japan GT300 stars Shunsuke Kohno and Yuya Motojima, ahead of the #65 of Dan Well and Emilien Carde and the #8 of Selim Rafique and Jazeman Jaafar. Championship leaders Charles Leong Hon Chio and Miki Koyama started sixth.
Van der Drift dropped to third at the start, behind Wells and Motojima, but kept the pressure on the latter to take second ten minutes in. Wells had pulled nearly three seconds up the road as they battled, but in clear air, the Kiwi entry quickly ate into this and was under one second behind when it came into the pits mid-race.
Van der Drift hit the front shortly after the pit window and gradually pulled clear over the final 20 minutes, greeting the chequered flag 13.3 seconds ahead of Jonathan Cecotto, who hunted down Carde for second over the closing laps.
Kohno and Motojima again shared the front row with van der Drift in Sunday’s outing, with Leong and Koyama in third and Cecotto and Gavin Huang in fourth. Wells and Carde started sixth.
Cecotto hit the front through the opening corners, emerging ahead in a side-by-side battle with the reigning champion.
In clear air, Cecotto put the hammer down and put over five seconds on the field early, only for van der Drift to respond late in the first stint and bring the gap down to four seconds.
He hit the front when Cecotto suffered a front-left puncture and was forced to come in to change the tyre.
Van der Drift’s advantage was 4.6 seconds over Koyama when he came in when the pit window opened.
However, there was drama for the #84, with van der Drift caught out for speeding in the pit lane and incurring a drive-through penalty.
He had extended his advantage beyond six seconds before he came in but dropped to sixth and fourth in class once the penalty was served.
He recovered three of those places to finish third overall, behind only Wells and Leong, the former of whom took the lead in the final five minutes and went on for victory.
Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia returns on September 13-15 in Shanghai.
Header Image: Lamborghini Squadra Corse.
