Cozzolino and Yazid Sweep Fuji Speedway
Kei Cozzolino and Afiq Yazid completed a clean sweep of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia‘s fourth round at Fuji Speedway, winning both Race 1 and Race 2 in their Clazzio RacingTeam #11 Huracán Super Trofeo. Cozzolino, who holds dual Italian-Japanese nationality, then climbed into a Lamborghini Huracán GT3 for the Blancpain GT Series Asia race on the same weekend card and won that too. Three victories, two different Lamborghini racing platforms, one weekend. That kind of cross-series dominance does not happen by accident. It speaks to a driver operating at peak confidence and to a car whose underlying engineering translates seamlessly from one-make competition to international GT3 racing.
Twenty cars lined up for Race 2, with Cozzolino starting from pole after topping qualifying on Saturday. Artur Janosz in the Team Lazarus #3 car briefly snatched the lead after the opening corners, but the advantage lasted only three laps before Cozzolino reasserted himself. By the time the mandatory pit window opened for driver changes, Cozzolino handed Yazid a ten-second cushion.
That cushion nearly evaporated. Light rain arrived in the final ten minutes, turning sections of Fuji’s 4.563-kilometer layout treacherous for cars still running on slick tires. Toby Sowery, who took over the Lazarus car from Janosz, exploited the conditions brilliantly, shaving the gap from ten seconds to just 2.8 by the final lap. Yazid held on, but the closing sequence made the margin look far more dramatic than the race’s earlier rhythm suggested.
Podium Battles and Class Winners Across the Grid
Liberati and Kaneishi in the Emperor Racing #19 entry recovered from an early drive-through penalty for a false start to claim third overall. Kaneishi posted the fastest lap of the race during their charge through the field, underlining how competitive the midfield remained even as Cozzolino controlled the front.
The multi-class format produced its own compelling storylines. In Pro-Am, Rik Breukers drove a standout second stint in the GDL Racing #37 Huracán, climbing from fourteenth on the grid (where Am driver Nigel Farmer had started) to fourth overall and first in class. Breukers is a Dutch member of the Lamborghini Squadra Corse Young Drivers Program, and his Fuji performance offered a vivid example of what that pipeline produces. Haryanto and Hwang of X-One Racing #69 doubled up in the AM category after also winning Race 1, with Hwang executing a late overtake on Uchida to seal it. Supachai Weeraborwornpong in the Top Speed Racing #77 car completed his own double in the Lamborghini Cup class.
Across every class, the weekend reinforced the same point: the Huracán Super Trofeo rewards both raw talent and strategic racecraft, and the series structure gives drivers at every level a meaningful stage.
The Young Drivers Program as Talent Pipeline
Breukers’ drive from the back half of the grid deserves attention beyond the result itself. Lamborghini Squadra Corse’s Young Drivers Program identifies and develops talent within the brand’s own racing ecosystem, giving selected drivers factory-level coaching, engineering support, and competitive seats. The Super Trofeo series, structured with Pro, Pro-Am, Am, and Lamborghini Cup classes, functions as the primary proving ground for that pipeline.
Drivers who emerge from the program graduate into GT3 and potentially higher-profile endurance seats carrying Lamborghini colors. Cozzolino’s ability to win in both the Super Trofeo and a GT3 Huracán during the same weekend illustrates the versatility that Squadra Corse’s structure is designed to cultivate. The series acts as both a customer racing product and a talent incubator, a dual purpose that few competitor programs replicate as directly. What Fuji demonstrated is that the pathway works: a driver sharpened in the one-make series can step into a GT3 car on the same weekend and compete at the front.
The Huracán’s V10 Architecture, Validated Under Pressure
The Huracán Super Trofeo runs a 5.2-liter naturally aspirated V10, the same engine family that powers the road-going Huracán lineup. Stripped of road-car compromises, fitted with a full roll cage, competition suspension, and aggressive aerodynamics, the Super Trofeo variant exists to prove that architecture under the most demanding conditions a customer can access.
Fuji’s rain-soaked finale offered exactly that kind of validation. When conditions shifted abruptly in the closing minutes, the cars running on slicks had to manage a chassis suddenly operating outside its optimal grip window. Yazid’s ability to hold off Sowery’s charge, and Kaneishi’s fastest-lap pace during Emperor Racing’s recovery drive, both speak to a platform that remains predictable and communicative even when the surface falls away. For prospective Huracán road car buyers, the connection is straightforward: the engineering that keeps a race car controllable in mixed conditions at Fuji is the same engineering underpinning the car in your garage.
Ferrari runs a similar customer-racing model with its Challenge series, and Porsche with the Carrera Cup. Lamborghini’s version distinguishes itself through the V10’s character and the direct factory involvement of Squadra Corse, which manages the series globally and feeds its best performers into the GT3 ranks. At Fuji, that entire ecosystem was on display in a single weekend.
Looking Ahead: Shanghai, Imola, and the Championship Picture
The fifth round of the 2017 Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia was scheduled for September 23-24 at the Shanghai International Circuit. Cozzolino and Yazid, riding the momentum of their Fuji sweep, later secured the championship title at that Shanghai round with a race still in hand, according to Lamborghini’s own account. Andrew Haryanto also clinched the AM category title at Shanghai, capping a consistent season.
The season’s ultimate destination was the Lamborghini World Finals, scheduled for November 16-19 in Imola, Italy, where regional champions from Asia, Europe, and North America converge for a single showdown. For drivers like Breukers, the World Finals represent both a competitive culmination and a career audition in front of Squadra Corse’s decision-makers.
One practical note for anyone watching the Super Trofeo series today: the championship now runs the Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 exclusively, and the series continues to expand its Asian calendar. The format remains two 50-minute sprint races per weekend with mandatory driver changes, a structure that rewards both raw pace and team strategy. For gentleman drivers and aspiring professionals alike, it remains one of the most accessible paths into factory-backed Lamborghini motorsport.
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