Miki Koyama continued her brilliant debut season in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia with two podiums at the third round of the season at Inje Speedium, continuing an uninterrupted top-three streak since the start of the championship that now sees the Japanese racer taking over the lead in the PRO class standings.
Miki Koyama continued her brilliant debut season in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia with two podiums at the third round of the season at South Korea's Inje Speedium, maintaining her uninterrupted top-three streak since the start of the championship and taking over the lead in the PRO class standings.
Alongside a part-time campaign in Japan's premier sports car series, Super GT, Miki Koyama joined Lamborghini factory team Iron Lynx in a SMJ Theodore Racing entry for her debut in the Lamborghini one-make series in 2024, teaming up with two-time Macau GP winner Charles Leong, sharing the #32 Huracan in the Pro class.
Koyama and Leong were twice runners-up at the season opener at Sepang International Circuit, then continued to step onto the podium at Australia's The Bend in June, with a pair of third-place finishes in the drivers' rookie season behind the wheel of the Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2.
At her first race at Inje Speedium, Koyama aimed to maintain momentum and grab the lead in the PRO class. Charles Leong was in charge of Q1 and he qualified fourth overall and second in the Pro class for the first race of the weekend on Saturday.
Absolute Racing’s Chris Van Der Drift took class pole position with a 1:35.733 lap, sealing the top spot for the Kiwi racer for both races.
In Q2, Miki Koyama set a remarkable 1:36.863, placing the #32 machine second overall, just 0.007 seconds behind Van Der Drift's benchmark in the second qualifying session.
Leong started the first race from the second row and had a strong start, running side by side with Changwoo Lee through the first corners and eventually snatching third, just behind Van Der Drift and Couto. The leading duo tried to pull away, but Leong soon caught up and started to put pressure on Couto by lap 4, while also setting the fastest lap of the race.
Tyre degradation kicked in relatively soon due to the demanding track layout. Positions settled, and Leong navigated through some lapped traffic 20 minutes into the race, with three seconds separating the top three. A Full Course Yellow was deployed on lap 11, just as the pit window opened, allowing most teams to pit under caution. Miki Koyama took over from third overall and second in class with 28 minutes to go.
By lap 14, the full safety car was brought out to bunch up the pack before the restart one lap later. Van Der Drift retained the lead after the mandatory pit stops and had a great restart, while Koyama grabbed second place overall when ProAm leader Fangping Chen ran wide into turn 1. Koyama then opened a healthy margin to the cars behind and chased Van Der Drift, navigating through lapped traffic.
Van Der Drift, however, managed the gap and kept up the rhythm, with Koyama running a little over a second behind. With ten minutes to go, the two front runners enjoyed an almost 10 second buffer to the cars behind.
As Van Der Drift continued his unchallenged run in the lead, Koyama couldn't quite threaten the New Zealander in the closing stages but secured a brilliant second-place finish, 27 seconds ahead of Emilie Carde, who moved up to third on the final lap following a spin by Lee. This result marked significant progress in the championship standings for Koyama and Leong, who climbed into the PRO class lead at the end of the first race of the weekend.
For Sunday's second race, Koyama lined up from the front row of the grid. Van Der Drift had another strong getaway, holding off Koyama into turn 1 despite a quick launch by the Japanese racer, who retained second place ahead of Jazeman Jaafar.
Koyama was quicker than Van Der Drift and put pressure on the race leader in the following laps, running within half a second throughout the first minutes and showcasing excellent pace. Van Der Drift left Koyama no opportunities to attack, and the positions settled, with the leaders opening a 5-second gap to Jaafar.
Consistently under the 1-second margin, Koyama had a superb stint, always keeping pressure on gold-rated Van Der Drift until the pit window opened midway through the race.
She extended her stint by a couple more laps despite a fast-approaching Jazeman Jaafar, who had a slightly faster pace on used tyres. The Iron Lynx SMJ Theodore Racing crew eventually pitted with 25 minutes left on the clock.
Charles Leong rejoined just behind Van Der Drift at the end of the pit cycle. Van Der Drift soon extended his gap in the second stint, pulling away by seven seconds over the next 10 minutes.
After an impressive recovery, Johnny Cecotto made up significant ground and caught Changwoo Lee for fourth overall. The Venezuelan made a move stick with six minutes to go and, with a 2.5-second-per-lap faster pace, continued his charging drive towards Charles Leong, who had lost touch with the #84 Absolute Racing's Lamborghini Huracan in the lead.
Leong tried to hold his rival off but ultimately lost second place overall and in class on the final lap of the race, crossing the finish line in third place.
While Cecotto took second, Leong and Koyama's double podium in the Korean weekend gained the team the top of the PRO class standings as the series reached its midpoint of the season.
With now three race meetings and six races to go, Miki Koyama and her Iron Lynx SMJ Theodore Racing teammate lead Wells and Carde by 5 points, with Cecotto/Huang just three points further behind.
Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia will resume at Fuji International Speedway on August 16-18 for Miki Koyama's home round.
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