Lamborghini Super Trofeo 2024 – Round 2 Adelaide Race 1

On June 8th, the second round of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia Challenge took place at the Bend Motorsport Park in Australia. Madness Racing Team continued their excellent performance from the first round, with the 88 car driven by Andre Couto and Jason Chen securing second place in the Pro-Am category, achieving the podium for the third consecutive race. Despite an unfortunate accident involving the 77 car in the first lap, Stephen Hong and Harry He managed to finish fourth in the Am category, despite damage to the car.

The first qualifying session began at 7:50 a.m. on Saturday, with drivers having only 10 minutes to find clean track space and set a fast lap time. Stephen Hong and Andre Couto were the first to take to the track for the qualifying session.

After two official practice sessions, all four Madness Racing drivers were familiar with the characteristics of the Bend circuit in Australia. Stephen Hong quickly entered sprint mode, improving his lap times with each flying lap and securing seventh overall and second in the Am category with a lap time of 1:50.828. Andre Couto once again showed strong single-lap pace, setting the fastest personal lap time of 1:48.857, placing the 88 car fourth overall and first in the Pro-Am category.

Jason Chen and Harry He completed the second qualifying session with steady performances, with Jason Chen taking third in the Pro-Am category and Harry He ranking fifth in the same category.

The first race of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia Challenge at the Bend circuit in Australia began at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday. The race's first lap was chaotic, with multiple cars colliding in turn one. Starting fourth, Andre Couto made a rapid start and briefly moved up to second place before choosing a conservative line to avoid the incident, maintaining fourth place for the 88 car.

In the midst of the midfield chaos, Stephen Hong of the 77 car was unfortunately involved in a collision with a car ahead, but fortunately, the damage was not significant. After rejoining the race, Stephen Hong quickly regained focus and began chasing the pack.

Due to the first-lap incident, the safety car was deployed to clear the track, allowing the 77 car to close the gap with the pack. After the restart, both Andre Couto and Stephen Hong continued to improve their pace and move up the field. By the seventh lap, Couto set the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1:49.594, becoming the first driver to break the 1 minute 50-second barrier and moving up to second place overall. Stephen Hong also capitalized on his speed advantage to climb to first place in the Am category.

At the halfway point, the pit window opened for driver changes, with Jason Chen and Harry He taking over for the second half of the race. Jason Chen faced pressure from Pro category cars but maintained a steady pace to secure first place in the Pro-Am category. Harry He also drove steadily, with the 77 car holding third place in the category after the driver change.

In the end, Madness Racing Team's 88 car finished steadily in fifth place overall, with Jason Chen and Andre Couto securing second place in the Pro-Am category, further extending their lead in the standings. Unfortunately, due to damage sustained in the first lap incident, the 77 car driven by Stephen Hong and Harry He finished just outside the podium in fourth place in the category.