Challenge APAC - Hutasoit, Yamaguchi and Chen take the first race in Singapore

Singapore — It was a hot day with track temperatures hovering around 35° and humidity at 63% when Race-1 of Ferrari Challenge Asia-Pacific opened in Singapore in support of the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix. Twenty-seven Ferrari Challenge drivers tackled the unique street circuit and took the green flag at 4.50PM local time. Fierce competition marked the 10-lap twenty-five-minute race with plenty of action and a few incidents. Trofeo Pirelli. Polesitter Renaldi Hutasoit from Indonesia roared to his first win of the weekend, leading every lap while keeping a close eye on the contenders behind him. There was a fierce race-long battle between Philippe Prette from Italy, Alex Au from Hong Kong and Go Max from Japan. Au was in second position for the first few laps but Prette was clearly not going to give up and put on some very forceful and demonstrative moves. He finally succeeded in overtaking Au halfway through the race and managed to keep Au at bay. Unfortunately for Au, a backmarker was in his way when Go Max from Japan successfully launched his last minute attack in lap 9 and overtook Au, taking the last step on the podium. Coppa Shell. Despite qualifying fourth on the grid in his class, Kazuyuki Yamaguchi from Japan had a dominant run and powered four places ahead to come in first in his class. Yanbin Xing of China, starting from pole position, couldn’t find the extra gear to overtake Yamaguchi after the latter powered ahead and had to settle for second position while Tani Hanna from Lebanon claimed third place, which is enough for him to be crowned the 2018 Ferrari Challenge Asia Pacific champion in his class. Coppa Shell AM. In the Coppa Shell AM class, the win went to Kent Chen from Chinese Taipei who, once taking the lead, went to work establishing a gap over his nearest rivals. The other two podium places went to David Dicker from Australia and Evan Mak from Hong Kong. Dicker also took the Gentlemen’s Cup while Kanthicha Chimsiri of Thailand took the Ladies’ Cup. Schedule. Having just set the grid for Race-2, drivers will have a short break before preparing to do battle at 4.50PM local time before the Formula One Grand Prix begins at 8.10PM.