Macanese driver Rodolfo Avila had a sensational end of the week at Shanghai International Circuit. The Macau SAR driver produced a 2nd place overall finish and two class victories (A Class) in the non-championship event of Asia Supercar Challenge (ASCC) 2008.
Avila accepted the invitation of the Italian team Mastercar to drive their Ferrari 360 Modena Challenge. Qualifying saw the Macanese driver managing to clinch the 5th position in the grid - 3rd between the A-Class drivers.
Race 1 saw Avila remaining in 5th position until the end of the race, and the position was sufficient to get the A Class victory. The Macanese ace overtook "Mimmo" Schiattarella in the last lap but the former F1 driver would recover the lost position in the last metres, using the higher-performance of his Ferrari 430 Challenge.
The revenge of Avila was prepared for the second race. The #20 Ferrari hadn't a reasonable rolling start but Avila was unstoppable. Overtaking his opponents one by one, Avila managed to reach the 2nd position just a second behind the unbeatable double winner of the event, the brand new Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 of Eddie Yau Jnr.
Reflecting on the race, Avila said "it was a really tough day. My car is just a pure Challenge car, and the drivers in front of me are driving FIA GT3 cars or Challenge cars with GT preparation. The positive thing from the weekend is that the team was quite pleased with my results. My second race was astounding. I had to make some daunting move".
Avila is planning his 2008 season carefully but should come up with a decision during the next few days. "As I said before I would like to return to Asia motor racing scene but I'll just do it if we have a package to win. We will see with the team what they have to propose us now", held the 21 years old driver.
Supercar Club Hong Kong established the Asia Supercar Challenge and has been the organiser of the GT race series since 2003. ASCC is sanctioned by the FIA as an Asia Zone International Event, and is one of the Asian Zone's top GT class racing events. This is the sixth year for the ASCC, where all the competing race cars are GT3 class vehicles, this includes Porsche 996 Cup/997 GT3, Ferrari 360/430 Challenge, Chevrolet Corvette Z06 and Lamborghini Gallardo GT3. ASCC 2008 race events will be held in various countries including China, Malaysia and Singapore.
Race 1 – Results:
1º Eddie Yau Jr (Lamborghini Gallardo GT3)
2º Francis Tjia (Ferrari 360 GT)
3º Roberto Sperati (Ferrari 360 GT)
4º Domenico Schiattarella (Ferrari 430 Challenge)
5º Rodolfo Ávila (Ferrari 360 Modena Challenge)
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22 cars
Race 2 – Results:
1º Eddie Yau Jr (Lamborghini Gallardo GT3)
2º Rodolfo Ávila (Ferrari 360 Modena Challenge)
3º Yau Sam (Porsche 997 GT3)
4º Domenico Schiattarella (Ferrari 430 Challenge)
5º Roberto Sperati (Ferrari 360 GT)
…
22 cars
