Miki Koyama secured her eighth Pro class podium of the season in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia, finishing third in a rain-soaked Race 2 in Shanghai and will head to the season finale in Jerez second in the championship standings.
Miki Koyama secured her eighth Pro class podium finish of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia season in Shanghai, China, as she and her SJM Iron Lynx teammate Charles Leong finished third in a rain-soaked Race 2 during the fifth round of the championship.
In her rookie season behind the wheel of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo car, Koyama had a remarkable start to the year with back-to-back second-place finishes at the season opener in Sepang. She then continued her strong form by climbing the podium in both races at The Bend and Inje. At her home race at Fuji Speedway, despite a tricky first race, Koyama and Leong still managed a top-five finish before bouncing back with their third runner-up result in Race 2.
Entering the fifth double-header in Shanghai, which was held alongside the SRO GT World Challenge Asia championship, the Iron Lynx duo sat tied for second in the Pro class standings. Although they had yet to claim a class victory, their consistent performances kept them in close contention with their main rivals, the DW Evans GT team, who had already secured two wins.
The championship headed to China for its final round on Asian soil before the season finale in Jerez, Spain, where the Lamborghini World Finals would take place, with the title battles still wide open.
Koyama and Leong had only missed the podium once so far and aimed to secure their first victory to strengthen their championship hopes heading into the final leg of the season. On the 5.451 km Shanghai International Circuit, home of the Chinese Grand Prix, the weekend began with collective testing, where the Iron Lynx Theodore Racing duo set the third-fastest time among the Pro class entries. In official practice, Koyama set the second-fastest time in Pro during FP1, while Leong was fourth in class in FP2. The sessions were extremely close, with the top seven cars separated by less than a second.
Next up was qualifying: Koyama took the wheel for the first session, clocking a 2:06.151 on her final run, which placed her fourth in Pro class and sixth overall. Leong handled the second qualifying session, which would shape the grid for Race 2. He secured second in Pro class and fourth overall with a lap time of 2:05.392, putting him on the second row alongside championship rival Dan Wells.
Koyama took the start for Race 1 on Saturday. She made a solid getaway from the outside lane, but got boxed in at the first long right-hander, dropping her to seventh overall and fifth in the Pro class as Smart Tse moved ahead. Despite putting pressure on Tse, their battle caused them to lose ground to the leading cars. On lap 3, a safety car was deployed following the stranded #95 Huracan driven by Xie.
When the race went back to green with 33 minutes remaining, Koyama resumed her pursuit of Tse's #28 Huracan but lost two overall positions on lap 7 when Pirttilahti and Lee found a way past. Koyama pitted with 28 minutes left, handing over to Charles Leong from fifth in class and ninth overall.
Charles Leong began to push during the pit sequence, gaining positions. He moved up to third and briefly into second before slipping back to fifth in class by lap 14, as he charged through the field, passing cars from other classes.
By lap 16, Leong was closing a 6-second gap to Li for fourth in class, and further ahead, Dan Wells lost second to Smart Tse, while Gavin Huang (who had taken over from Johnny Cecotto) maintained a 19-second lead.
Leong couldn’t quite close the gap to Li, finishing ninth overall and fifth in Pro class. Huang and Cecotto took victory in Race 1, while Jazeman Jaafar made an impressive recovery from 16th on the grid to finish second overall and win the Pro-Am class.
Leong lined up on the second row for Race 2 on Sunday, starting fourth overall. He had a strong start, attempting to move past the leaders but eventually settling into third place overall, after pole-sitter Li Xuanyu spun from the lead, promoting Dan Wells to the front, with Jazeman Jaafar in second and Leong in third, second in Pro class afer one lap. The leading trio managed to pull away from the pack, although Leong began to lose touch with Wells and Jaafar over the following laps.
On lap 3, Jaafar took the overall lead from Wells at the hairpin, but Wells stayed close behind. Leong, meanwhile, built a comfortable gap over the third-placed Pro car, as Gavin Huang and Zhicong Li battled over 5 seconds behind.
Steadily, Leong closed in on Wells and caught the #65 Huracan with 33 minutes remaining. Leong made a bold move around the outside of the final corner with 30 minutes to go, taking the Pro class lead in a spectacular fashion and quickly driving away from Wells as the pit window approached. With rain threatening, all teams were closely monitoring the sky to determine their tyre strategy for the second stint.
Leong stayed out, extending his gap over Wells while also gaining on the overall race leader, Jaafar. After Jaafar pitted, Leong inherited the overall lead before making his pit stop a lap later. Koyama took over, just as heavy rain began to pour down on the second half of the track.
Koyama bolted on wet tyres, while many cars remained on slicks, leading to a Full Course Yellow as several cars spun at the hairpin. With 15 minutes to go, Koyama found herself leading the race overall behind the safety car, but the poor visibility and worsening conditions forced race control to red-flag the race.
After nearly 30 minutes, conditions improved, and the race resumed behind the safety car. Koyama led the field, but Dan Wells put her under pressure after the restart. Wells made a strong move into Turn 1, and despite Koyama’s defense, he eventually passed her at Turn 4. Li and Cecotto soon followed, and after contact at Turn 11, Koyama dropped to fourth in class.
Although the race finished in that order, Zhicong Li received a 6.5-second penalty, which demoted him to fourth and reinstated Koyama to third place. This marked her eighth podium of the season, despite the challenging final stint in extremely tricky conditions with minimal visibility.
Though the rain and race stoppage made it difficult for Koyama to maintain her lead, she managed to secure third place in class, continuing her podium streak at every round this season.
Miki Koyama and Charles Leong will enter the final round of the 2024 Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia championship in second place in the standings, aiming for their first victory and the championship title on November 14-15.
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