Denning on top in Japan
Photo: Theodore Racing
SJM Theodore Racing raced to their fourth win of the season from six races in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia Round Three event in Japan.
Taking over the number 32 SJM Theodore machine in second place at the halfway point from team-mate Alex Denning, Macau's Charles Leong hunted down his nearest rival who was then called to pitlane. From there to the flag Leong further extended his lead to make it four wins and two second place finishes from six starts this season.
The win further reinforces SJM Theodore's position at the top of the championship standings heading to round four in Korea next month.
Starting from the fifth on the grid Ireland's Alex Denning made a terrific start to round the first corner in third place and he dived through to take second before the end of the first lap. After recording the fastest lap of the race on lap three, Denning then settled in to stay within touching distance of the lead number 27 car for the first half of the race. Approaching the halfway point the safety car was deployed to clear a stranded competitor which served to bunch up the field once more.
The SJM Theodore machine was right on the tail of the leader at the resumption and maintained position all the way to the critical pit stop. Charles Leong took over and, following a reshuffle, was still second but now behind the number 11 car.
After a hectic out lap, Leong was quickly in the groove and quickly began eroding a 3.5s deficit to the leader. With seven minutes to go, the gap was just over a second and the catch seemed inevitable as the leader dived into pit lane for an unscheduled stop.
That meant that Leong was now in the lead with a 4.1 second advantage and that continued to rise as he reeled off the final laps to the flag. He was over seven seconds clear starting the final lap and, despite easing slightly on the final tour, still had more than five seconds in hand as he took the chequered flag after almost an hour of racing.
It was a fabulous response after the slight disappointment of Saturday's first race when the timing of a full course yellow cost the team a chance of victory. Afterwards, the team could reflect on another great victory for SJM Theodore Racing and the extension of a remarkable record of not having been lower than second so far this year.
Charles Leong:
“Everything is very good, very positive. The car was great and we are really putting everything together. I'm really very happy for everyone in the team and I'd like to say a huge thanks to SJM Theodore Racing again.
"We're looking forward to the rest of the season. Leading the championship going to Inje everything is very positive. We've extended our lead again and yeah, it's getting there.”
Alex Denning:
”As I always say, I judge the performance rather than the outcome and we are happy, really really happy with both the performance and the outcome there. We were disappointed yesterday with the P2 because we felt robbed, every racing driver always wants more and today we got a vengeance.
"It was a great start, perfectly timed, looked after the tyres well for Charles, good pit entry which got us the overlap we needed on them at the pit stops and beautifully managed by Charles. We wrote the script for it, it was probably one of the few races where it completely went to plan, so we're absolutely delighted. Thank you very much to SJM Theodore Racing and to all my sponsors, all you guys are the reason why we're here today.”