Thunderous return for Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia

Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia is back in a big way, with six rounds in six countries, a debut in Australia, a bumper 20-car Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 field and a thrilling international line-up of drivers heralding the return of the much-missed championship after a three-season hiatus.

 

The 2023 season bursts to life this weekend at Malaysia’s 5.543km, FIA Grade 1 Sepang International Circuit with the field contesting the first two, 50-minute races of the year where the Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 will make its Asian racing debut.

 

Commented Head of Lamborghini Motorsport Giorgio Sanna: “The return of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia will reignite motorsport in the region, and we’re thrilled to reunite the Asia Pacific Lamborghini family, welcome new teams and drivers, and debut the Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2. We are looking forward to a truly memorable season.”

 

Intriguing international entry

 

Reigning champion Chris van der Drift leads the PRO entries, teaming up for his title defense with up-and-coming fellow Kiwi, 18-year-old Marco Giltrap on the eponymous Giltrap squad entered by Lamborghini Auckland. China’s Luo Haowen joins Frenchman Benjamin Rouget at Vortex Orion Endurance, while at HZO Fortis are popular Malaysian brothers Hairie and Haziq Zairel Oh.

 

Mainland Chinese team Harmony Racing enters F4 Chinese Championship front-runner Xu Shenghui and team principal David Chen Wei’an, a highly-accomplished GT competitor. Chinese Taipei duo Johnson Huang and Vincent Tai enter with BC Racing, while compatriot Oscar Lee is entered with Dan Wells. The pair narrowly missed taking the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe PRO-AM title last season, while Wells contested three rounds of the Asian series in 2019 alongside Philip Kadoorie.

 

From Hong Kong comes series regular and former FIA World Touring Car Championship driver Henry Kwong and team mate Eric Kwong at Triple Ace Racing. Also from Southern Chinese city comes Ma Chi Min who teams up with Australian driver Keith Wong at Team MW in the PRO category.

 

In a further expansion of the collaboration between Lamborghini Squadra Corse and Iron Lynx, LMDh hypercar programme partners for the 2024 FIA World Endurance and IMSA Sportscar championships, the Italian team enters two Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2s in the Asian series. The first entry is for Singaporean Jason Loh and Malaysian Mark Darwin, with a second in the Lamborghini Cup class for Kumar Prabakaran of Malaysia, fourth in the class in 2019.

 

Chinese team TRT Racing enters two cars in the PRO-AM category: the first for Chinese driver Li Qiang and Venezuelan Jonathan Cecotto, winner of the 2019 Lamborghini Super Trofeo World Final PRO class; and a second entry for China’s Kang Zhilong and Ray Lu.

 

Formidable Australian father-and-son pairing Tony and Jackson Walls enter the PRO-AM class with Objective Racing. Father Tony is one of the most experienced drivers in the field and who contested one round of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia in 2019, taking a Lamborghini Cup podium finish in Shanghai that year. Twenty-year-old son Jackson, meanwhile, honed his skills over a successful career in junior single seater competition across Asia and the Pacific and makes his series debut this season.

 

Flying the flag for Thailand in the PRO-AM ranks are Aniwat Lommahadthai and Pasarit Promsombat at Absolute Racing in the Lamborghini Bangkok entry, while South Korea’s Brian Lee enters with SQDA – GRIT Motorsport, an entry from Lamborghini Seoul.

 

Popular Thai AM driver Bobby Suttiluck makes a welcome return to the series with his True Visions Motorsports Thailand Team. In 2019, Suttiluck finished fourth in the AM class, taking four podiums in the ten races he contested, and won the class in 2018.

 

Joining Prabakaran to contest the Lamborghini Cup is another Thai driver, Supachai Weeraborwornpong, with Siamgas Corse. A long-standing Lamborghini Super Trofeo competitor, Weeraborwornpong has more recently contested the European series.

 

Korean team Racegraph enters Finnish-Malaysian driver Mikko Nassi, who has turned his talents to GT competition after a successful career in karting, and 27-year-old Singaporean Ni Weiliang who honed his racing skills in Asian single seaters.

 

A dedicated, professional coach will be at the disposal of all series drivers at every round of the series as part of the comprehensive driver and team support package. At Sepang, the designated coach is Macau Grand Prix winner André Couto, who amassed vast experience contesting the Japan Super GT in a JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO over several seasons.

 

Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2

 

The formidable Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 is the most high-performance version ever created, and features radical aerodynamic refinements over its predecessor. Its uncompromising design was created by Lamborghini Centro Stile, with the most eye-catching visual enhancements the new light clusters and pronounced ‘omega’ lip at the front, and new air curtain intakes to optimize air flow.

 

The 5.2-litre naturally aspirated V10 engine delivers up to 620 CV of power, while the carbon intake duct and racing exhaust system create the thunderous, goose bump-inducing sound which has become synonymous with the Lamborghini Super Trofeo.

 

Six countries, six race tracks, four titles

 

Drivers will compete for four championship titles over the Lamborghini Super Trofeo 2023 season: Overall; PRO-AM, AM and Lamborghini Cup, with combinations of FIA-ranked Bronze, Silver and Gold drivers. Each weekend features two, 60-minute free practice sessions followed by two, 15-minute qualifying runs to set the grids for each of the 50-minute races. Each race includes one mandatory pitstop. Championship points are awarded for the top 10 finishers on a sliding scale from 15 to one, with an additional point for pole position in each class.

 

Following the opening round at Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit, the series makes its debut in Australia at The Bend Motorsport Park. The Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia will take top billing at the impressive multi-disciplinary facility which was completed in January 2018, and is located 100km southeast of Adelaide.

 

For Round 3, the series travels to the foothills of the majestic mount Fuji in Japan to one of the world’s most historic race tracks. From the Fuji International Speedway, the championship makes its first appearance at South Korea’s 4.3km Everland Speedway on the outskirts of the capital Seoul. The country’s first permanent race track when it opened in 1995, the facility was subsequently reconfigured and expanded. From Korea, the series moves to the home of Chinese motorsport and the Shanghai International Circuit, before crossing the globe for the final round and Lamborghini Super Trofeo Grand Final at Italy’s Vallelunga Circuit in November.

 

South Korea’s Hankook becomes Global Official Tire Partner for all Lamborghini Super Trofeo series for the 2023 season, and joins long-time Asian series collaborator Roger Dubuis in supporting the championship.

 

Round 1 provisional schedule

 

Following four 60-minute testing sessions, the first of two, one-hour Free Practice sessions beings at 10:45 on Friday, May 5. Two 15-minute qualifying sessions starting at 11:10 on Saturday set the grids for the two races, the first of which starts at 14:45. Race two follows at 13:10 on Sunday.

 

All races will be live-streamed via the Lamborghini Squadra Corse YouTube channel.