FastMotoring Motor News In Speed
The fourth round of the Ferrari Challenge Asia Pacific was happening over last weekend at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. It is one of the support races for the 2012 Merdeka Millenium Endurance Race.
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After two qualifying sessions run in difficult conditions of heavy humidity, which can have an effect even on the most experienced drivers, the protagonists in the Ferrari one-make series today tackled two very closely fought races.
There were in fact twenty eight 458 Challenge cars entered, battling it out on the Malaysian track trying to get as many championship points as possible. In Race 1 Italy’s Philippe Prette took the win ahead of Pasin Lathouras from Thailand and Philip Ma from Hong Kong, while in the second leg, victory went to Lathouras who got the better of Prette, having taken pole in the second qualifying session.
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Completing the podium in Race 2, Japan’s Motoaki Ishikawa, who did a good job of controlling those behind him. As for the Coppa Shell, Race 1 saw the win go to Japan’s Francis Hideki Onda, followed by Gregory Teo from Singapore and Eric Cheung from Canada. The Canadian was then the runner up in race 2, behind the winner Jacky Yeung from Hong Kong, while another Hong Kong driver, Alex Au, crossed the line third.
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The large crowd was also able to watch the 458 GT3 cars in action, driven by Ferrari’s Gianmaria Bruni in the famous 12-hour race. The Italian, who has carved out a successful career in GT racing, shared the cockpit of his Ferrari entered by Clearwater Racing, with Irishman Matt Griffin and the Asia GT3 champion, Mok Weng Sun. Having started from pole and led the race for no less than 10 hours, the crew had to retire with a sudden mechanical failure, which put an end to what had been an impeccable performance.
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Apart from the Sepang 12 Hours MMER, the Ferrari’s one-make series will be back in action on the Marina Bay street circuit as part of the support races for the upcoming Singapore F1 Grand Prix on September 23, 2012.
Photo Gallery: Ferrari Challenge Asia Pacific 2012 – MMER
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