Two Races, Two Last-Lap Passes, One Perfect Weekend
Evan Chen and Chris van der Drift left the Sepang International Circuit with a clean sweep of the 2019 Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia opening round, and they earned it in the most theatrical way possible: both victories came on the final lap. On April 7, the Gama Racing pair took the Race 2 win after van der Drift pulled off a wheel-to-wheel pass on Alex Au at Turn 6, crossing the line just 1.302 seconds ahead of the Vincenzo Sospiri Racing entry.
The day before, Chen had delivered his own last-lap move to secure Race 1. That kind of consistency, combined with the drama of late-race aggression, set the tone for what became a dominant Pro class campaign. The pair left Sepang leading the Pro standings on 31 points, six clear of FFF Racing Team’s Takashi Kasai and Juuso Puhakka.
The weekend also illustrated exactly what makes the Super Trofeo format compelling for Lamborghini enthusiasts. Identical Huracán Super Trofeo Evo machinery means the margins come down to driver skill, pit strategy, and the ability to manage tires in extreme conditions. At Sepang, those conditions were about as extreme as they get.
63.9°C Track Temperature and a 50-Minute Test of Attrition
Race 2 unfolded in conditions that would punish any mistake. A confirmed track temperature of 63.9°C transformed tire management from a tactical consideration into the defining variable of the entire race. The contrast with Race 1 was stark: Saturday’s event ran in torrential rain under floodlights, while Sunday’s grid baked under the Malaysian sun.
Edoardo Liberati launched from the front row and immediately opened a gap, building a comfortable lead during the first stint. His pace was relentless, and by the time the pit window opened, Liberati’s advantage appeared decisive. Behind him, Afiq Yazid held second while Chen fought his way past Richard Muscat on lap 7 to claim third.
The mandatory driver swap reshaped everything. Liberati handed the car to Au, Yazid gave way to Toshiyuki Ochiai, and Chen passed the Huracán to van der Drift. What followed was a masterclass in closing speed. Van der Drift immediately cleared the Am-class Ochiai, then began eating into Au’s lead at roughly two seconds per lap. By the time the New Zealander completed his first full lap after the swap, the gap was down to 4.4 seconds.
The final laps became a pursuit that rewarded patience. Van der Drift sat behind Au through the opening corners of the last lap, waiting for the Hong Kong driver to make a mistake. It came at Turn 6, and van der Drift was through.
The Driver Swap as a Strategic Weapon
One detail that often gets overlooked in Super Trofeo race reports is how profoundly the mandatory pit stop and driver change can rewrite the narrative. In Race 2, the three leading cars all stayed out until the end of the pit window, a strategic gamble that kept their Pro and Pro-Am drivers on track for as long as regulations allowed. The payoff was track position; the risk was handing a car with used tires to a partner who needed to defend or attack immediately.
Van der Drift’s own post-race comments made this dynamic explicit. He described driving on Chen’s used tires, admitting he was “drifting everywhere and trying to figure it out” during the early laps of his stint. That he still closed a multi-second gap and executed a pass on the final lap speaks to raw ability, but also to the team’s willingness to accept short-term uncertainty for long-term position.
Au, for his part, put up what Liberati called a “mega job defending” against a Pro-class car. Au competes in the Pro-Am category, classified as an Am-level driver paired with a professional. Holding off van der Drift for as long as he did was a genuine achievement, and his candid admission that “if only the race was one lap shorter” captures the fine margins that define this series.
The Super Trofeo format deliberately creates these mismatches through its class structure. Pro, Pro-Am, Am, and Lamborghini Cup entries all share the same track, and the resulting encounters between drivers of different experience levels produce unpredictable racing that pure gentleman-driver or pure professional series rarely deliver. At Sepang, that unpredictability was the story.
Standings and Category Winners After Round 1
The full standings after the two Sepang races confirmed how tightly contested every category was:
| Class | Leaders | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pro | Evan Chen / Chris van der Drift | Gama Racing | 31 |
| Pro-Am (tied) | Afiq Yazid / Toshiyuki Ochiai | Hojust Racing | 28 |
| Pro-Am (tied) | Alex Au / Edoardo Liberati | Vincenzo Sospiri Racing | 28 |
| Am | Huilin Han | T Squared Racing | 29 |
| Lamborghini Cup | Paul Wong / Clement Li | 852 Challengers | 31 |
The Pro-Am tie between Hojust Racing and Vincenzo Sospiri Racing set up an intriguing battle for the rest of the season. Both crews showed race-winning pace at Sepang, and with GDL Racing’s Muscat and Stutterd 10 points back, the category looked like a three-team fight from the outset.
In the Lamborghini Cup, the 852 Challengers team of Wong and Li mirrored Gama Racing’s perfect weekend with two class victories, opening an eight-point gap over GDL Racing’s Vincent Wong and Sui Lung Gary Cheung. Han’s Am class victory in Race 2 was particularly impressive: the Chinese driver ran a solo double stint in the searing heat, a physically punishing effort that he described as “probably the toughest race I’ve done.”
Why the Super Trofeo Asia Matters Beyond the Podium
Lamborghini’s one-make series operates as both a competitive racing championship and a commercial pipeline. Running since 2009, the Super Trofeo Asia gives Squadra Corse a direct presence across the Asia-Pacific region, connecting the brand with wealthy enthusiasts who want to race rather than simply own. The 2019 calendar reflected that ambition: Sepang, Suzuka, Fuji, Yeongam, Shanghai, and a World Final at Jerez covered six countries across two continents.
For prospective buyers watching from the paddock or following results online, the series functions as an extended test drive of the Huracán platform under the most demanding conditions possible. The cars are stripped, caged, and fitted with competition-spec Brembo brakes and Öhlins dampers, but the fundamental mid-engine V10 architecture is shared with the road car sitting in the showroom. Every race weekend reinforces the connection between what Lamborghini sells and what Lamborghini races.
The 2019 season also represented one of the final chapters of the naturally aspirated Huracán era in competition. For enthusiasts who value the raw, high-revving character of the V10, the 2019 Super Trofeo Evo cars occupy a specific and increasingly collectible niche. Reports from outlets like Autoblog confirm that low-mileage examples of these race cars now attract serious collector interest.
Chen and van der Drift’s Sepang sweep proved to be the opening chapter of a championship-winning season. The Gama Racing duo went on to claim the 2019 Pro class title, and van der Drift continued to build one of the most accomplished careers in Super Trofeo history. The 2019 season remains a useful reference point for anyone evaluating the depth and competitiveness of Lamborghini’s customer racing ecosystem: the grids were international, the racing was genuine, and the last-lap drama at Sepang was anything but scripted.
Full Race 2 Results: Sepang International Circuit
| Pos. | Car | Class | Team | Drivers | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | #68 | Pro | Gama Racing | E. Chen (TPE) / C. van der Drift (NZL) | 51:03.624 |
| 2 | #66 | Pro-Am | Vincenzo Sospiri Racing | A. Au (HKG) / E. Liberati (ITA) | +1.302 |
| 3 | #38 | Pro-Am | Hojust Racing | A. Yazid (MAS) / T. Ochiai (JPN) | +14.898 |
| 4 | #63 | Pro | FFF Racing Team | T. Kasai (JPN) / J. Puhakka (FIN) | +23.310 |
| 5 | #39 | Am | T Squared Racing | H. Han (CHN) | +29.135 |
| 6 | #7 | Pro-Am | Leipert Motorsport | K.W. Lim (SIN) / B. Leitch (NZL) | +53.211 |
| 7 | #47 | Pro-Am | GDL Racing | R. Muscat (AUS) / D. Stutterd (AUS) | +55.897 |
| 8 | #57 | Am | PSC Motorsports | S. Sereethoranakul / S. Sereethoranakul (THA) | +1:09.931 |
| 9 | #30 | Pro-Am | yh Racing Team | T. Matsuda / K. Cozzolino (JPN) | +1:23.176 |
| 10 | #6 | Am | FFF Racing Team | S. Lin (CHN) | +1:35.762 |
For the record, the complete finishing order for Round 1, Race 2: The fastest Pro-Am lap belonged to the #66 Vincenzo Sospiri Racing entry (2:07.167), while Gama Racing’s #68 set the fastest Pro-class time at 2:07.936. The season continued with Round 2 at Suzuka on June 22-23.
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