Elation in Japan. Heartbreak in Rome. Your week in motorsport

Chris van der Drift and Marco Giltrap Dominate Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia Round at Fuji

Chris van der Drift and Marco Giltrap have emerged victorious once again in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia round at Fuji, winning both races of the weekend. Despite the Japan circuit being new to Giltrap, the duo claimed a commanding round win, solidifying their position at the top of the championship standings.

The first race started with van der Drift, driving for Lamborghini Auckland, taking the pole position and surging ahead into Turn 1, leaving his competitors well behind. A battle raged for second place behind the Kiwi, allowing van der Drift to gain a comfortable 2.5-second margin.

A Safety Car intervention brought the field together just before the 20-minute mark and triggered the opening of the pit window. A flurry of cars rushed into the pit lane for their mandatory stops, including van der Drift, who handed over to Giltrap, who maintained the winning pace and brought the car home in P1.

Race 2 kicked off with Giltrap starting from the second row. A challenging moment unfolded as he was squeezed between cars on the outside at Turn 1. The incident caused minor damage and saw the Kiwi drop to sixth place.

Undeterred by the setback though, Giltrap swiftly regrouped and began an impressive charge through the field. Within a mere 10 minutes, he had skillfully made his way to third place, with the leaders now with an established gap.

Just before the midpoint of the race, Giltrap handed over to van der Drift while the Australian team of Jackson Walls and Tony Walls, who had been running in the second position, lost ground to the Kiwi contenders during the pit stop.

Van der Drift capitalized on this and shortly after taking over, he seized the lead and steadily widened the gap, eventually crossing the finish line with a massive 12-second advantage.

“Today was definitely a difficult race!” said Giltrap following race 2.

“Picking up the damage early in the race put us on edge, but we knew we had good speed. I settled into a rhythm and was catching the leaders quickly. Chris did an outstanding job as well securing the win. Awesome to win both races and extend our championship lead,” Giltrap said.

The next round of Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia, with Round 4 of 6, is scheduled to take place at Everland Speedway from August 18-20.

And in between, Marco Giltrap will be racing in the Porsche Michelin Sprint Series in Sydney this weekend.

Disaster at Rome for Evans and Cassidy

Kiwi Formula E driver Mitch Evans has experienced elation and heartbreak in one weekend at Rome. On the first day of competition, Evans was on fire and put in the fastest lap of the race twice in a row to pass Jake Dennis for the lead on Lap 22. Down on energy, Dennis exclaimed he was a "sitting duck" to those around him, and the ease with which another Kiwi, Nick Cassidy, pinched second from him confirmed his fears.

Evans would finish first, sealing his third win in Rome, and Cassidy would claim second to take the lead in the championship.

The race wasn’t without drama, most notably on Lap 9 at the quickest part of the track where multiple cars, including Evans’ teammate Sam Bird, lost the rear of his Jaguar over the tricky, rapid, and undulating section between Turns 6 and 7, creating the largest crash in Formula E’s history. Thankfully, all drivers were OK, but disappointingly, that wouldn’t be the only Jaguar TCS Racing car to have the rear wildly lose grip in Rome this weekend.

The second race of the weekend had barely gotten underway, and disaster struck again, this time involving the two Kiwi drivers.

Dennis was again leading his closest title rival, Cassidy (Envision Racing), and Evans (Jaguar TCS Racing) close behind him on just the second lap of the race.

As Cassidy prepared to take on Dennis for the lead into the braking zone at the infamous Turn 7, Evans lost the rear of his Jaguar under brakes, clipped the leader's Andretti, and launched spectacularly over the top of Cassidy's Envision Racing Jaguar I-TYPE 6.

The airborne incident again highlighted a potential brake bias issue with the two Jaguar TCS cars that will no doubt be discussed in debrief.

It was another huge moment in the battle for the Drivers' title, and Dennis took full advantage. Evans' damage proved terminal after he limped back to the pits while Cassidy could only recover to finish in 14th and outside crucial points for the Kiwi who started the race leading the title fight by five points over Dennis.

Evans's chance of winning the championship appears lost, but he remains third on the table, while Nick Cassidy will need luck on his side to overcome a 24-point deficit from Jake Dennis for the Championship.

Lawson wins at Fuji, Super Formula championship within grasp

In Super Formula, also racing at Fuji Speedway, Liam Lawson has closed the gap to the championship leader, Ritomo Miyata, to just one point by winning the weekend’s race.

Lawson took the lead after an early pit stop and emerged at the front when the pit window closed, securing a five-second victory over Tadasuke Makino.

Miyata finished in third place, earning 11 points and boosting his season total to 86, just one point ahead of Lawson's 85.

Lawson made a steady start and initially ran side-by-side with Makino before settling into second place. Miyata made progress from seventh to fourth, but Makino and Lawson pulled away, with the latter holding a two-second gap over third-placed Naoki Yamamoto by the end of Lap 4.

During the pit window, Lawson’s team made a timely stop to prevent an undercut, while Makino followed suit a lap later. Lawson overtook Makino, and with fresh tires, he would stretch his advantage out to 4.4 seconds by the time he took the checkered flag.

"Before the stop, honestly, I did not have a way to get past him (Makino). I could hold onto him, but getting into a position to make a pass, I was struggling with that," said Lawson after the podium presentations.

"It all came down to my out lap and making the undercut. We had a number of strategies we could use, but of course, you don't know what they are going to do."

"We decided to stop, and they [Dandelion Racing] followed, but my out lap was really quick, so when he came out on cold tires, I was right there, and in a couple of corners, I had him. I managed to hold it from there. It is never as easy as it looks, but we did it," said Lawson.

"The next race is at Motegi, and that is new for me. I've got to learn it quickly with just a 90-minute Free Practice session before qualifying. The team continues to be fantastic; I am learning more and more every weekend, and it is an amazing experience," Lawson added.

From Japan, Lawson now heads back to England briefly before jetting off to be the reserve driver for Oracle Red Bull Racing at the Hungarian F1 Grand Prix this coming weekend.

The next round of the Super Formula Championship will take place at Mobility Resort Motegi on August 18-20.

Kiwi Indycar drivers all in the mix at Toronto

With a race win eventually going to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver Christian Lundgaard, the trio of Kiwis in Indycars all came away with strong top 10 performances and a points tally on the streets of Toronto this morning.

Starting from seventh on the grid, Dixon made a strong start and quickly moved up to fifth. Running on the harder primary tires, he could maintain a competitive position throughout the duration of the race and ran a longer first stint, making his final pit stop on lap 37. Dixon would continue to battle to eventually finish fourth, as his main rivals Will Power and Marcus Ericsson had to pit for fuel on the final lap.

Scott McLaughlin also started the race on the hard tires and was in real contention for a win, running in second place behind Lundgaard for a significant portion of the race. He showed good pace and made his final pit stop on lap 35. McLaughlin briefly took the lead after the restart following a caution period, but the car couldn’t maintain that pace for the full duration, leaving McLaughlin to fight for an eventual sixth place.

Yet another excellent result for Marcus Armstrong, who raced a good, clean race throughout to finish in seventh. Armstrong has demonstrated growth all season, and race wins are on the cards for the rookie before too long.

Meanwhile, Indycars welcomed yet another sort-of Kiwi in their debut. Tom Blomqvist is the son of legendary rally driver Stig Blomqvist, who has a strong affinity with New Zealand. Tom races with a UK flag next to his name, but is also a citizen of New Zealand, so we’ll partially claim that. One to watch.