Sepang, 31 August

Japan’s Hisao Shigeta and Hong Kong’s Jacky Yeung (2.15.162) were fastest in the first qualifying sessions for the Ferrari Challenge Asia Pacific Challenge races, taking place this weekend at the Sepang circuit. Shigeta lapped in 2.14.038, doing well to finish ahead of Italy’s Philippe Prette (2.14.119) and Philip Ma (2.14.388) from Hong Kong, while behind Yeung in the Coppa Shell was Singapore’s Gregory Teo (2.15.580) and China’s Junhan Zhu (2.15.658.) In the second session Philippe Prette was quickest (2.14.062) having already gone well in yesterday’s free practice, to start on pole in the Trofeo Pirelli ahead of Thailand’s Pasin Lathouras (2.14.270) and Japan’s Motoaki Ishikawa (2.14.336). Showing well in the Coppa Shell was another driver from Hong Kong, Alex Au (2.14.467), who finished ahead of Yeung (2.14.552) and Teo (2.15.469.)

Competitors in the Ferrari Challenge Asia Pacific will be back in action on Sunday for the two races at 11.00 and 15.05, while before then, Saturday features the Sepang 12 Hours race, the most important endurance event in Asia, which has run since 2000, also going by the name of Merdeka Millenium Endurance Race. Taking part is Gianmaria Bruni, who has been racing Ferraris successfully in GT competitions. He is sharing a 458 GT prepared by Clearwater Racing with Matt Griffin and Mok Weng Sun.