Chris Van der Drift has taken a phenonemal Pro-Am victory in the first round of the weekend at Shanghai, which has helped himself and Todd Kingsford secure the 2026 Pro-Am title. Liam Sceats was also able to drive a great race, coming home in second place to stay in the Pro title hunt.
In a earlier qualifying session, Sceats and teammate Gustav XX were able to qualify second for Race 1, with Van der Drift and Kingsford not far behind in fourth.
The start was initially delayed as an oil spill from the previous series required extensive cleanup. Once the race commenced, Sceats was initially slow off the line, which cost him time to leader Titus Sherlock and put him back to third. Kingsford was able to hold position, making it a VSR 3-4.
Will Tregurtha soon closed up to the back of Kingsford, and the duo got together, which sent Tregurtha down the order. An investigation was soon launched, and both Sceats and Kingsford moved up a position as Tregurtha fell down the order.
Tregurtha was subsequently awarded a ten second penalty for causing a collision. This left Sceats in second, with Kingsford in third. Tregurtha was able to get back in front of Kingsford before they both pitted, providing buffer room to serve his penalty.
With thirty-five minutes to go, the pit window opened – with both Kingsford and Tregurtha heading into the lane first. This allowed Van der Drift to jump into the car, with the aim to finish the race off. Van der Drift exited the lane on the bumper of Kingsford’s co-driver, Cecotto, where an almighty battle commenced.
Van der Drift was able to jump ahead of Cecotto, and sat eight tenths ahead at the half way mark.
Out front, Sceats sat in a comfortable second place, five seconds behind Sherlock. Sceats was lucky to make it into the pit lane, as the Kiwi skated off the pit road in a Lewis Hamilton-esque entry, but was able to keep it going to make it to the lane with twenty minutes to go.
Meanwhile, Van der Drift was unable to keep the fast Cecotto behind and slotted into fourth place overall and first in class. It became clear that Van der Drift and Kingsford only needed to finish the race to clinch the Pro-Am title, allowing them to take it easy and not risk the car.
With ten minutes to go, Sceats and Wisniewski sat seven and a half second off the leader Li, and seven and a half seconds ahead of a fast looking Cecotto.
Wisniewski was unable to match the pace of Li, and fell to ten seconds behind at the chequered flag to bring home another second place. Van der Drift was able to keep his cool to bring home a Pro-Am win, and secure the 2026 Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia Pro-Am Championship.
It will be a quick turnaround for drivers as they take to the grid at 2:45pm tomorrow.
