JEREZ, Spain – The action on the track at day one of the Lamborghini World Final was hotter than the temperatures that greeted the teams and drivers that reached almost 90 degrees.
When the pair of 50-minute races were over, a 16-year-old from Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America was halfway to becoming one of the youngest world champions in the series history while other cars from the series positioned themselves to also bring home a world title after Sunday’s action.
The first race of the day combined the AM and LB Cup teams from all three series, including North America, Europe and Asia.
Steve Aghakhani took the overall and AM class win in the first race and is now in a position to earn the title of youngest world champion in Lamborghini history. He has now won all three races he has run this weekend.
“It is a crazy feeling to think that,” the teenager said after the race. “I am excited to be out here and there are some good drivers out here that make each of these races challenging. It was a little hard trying to keep the tires safe (in the heat), but we were able to do that and come away with another win.”
Supercross champion Chad Reed earned the LB Class win. The native of Australia is in his first season of Super Trofeo and this was his sixth win of the year. He drove on his own after sharing a car with Justin Price in the last two races of the North American series on Friday.
“I’m trying to be a Lamborghini champion,” Reed said after his win. “It was fun out there, and that was the first race I have driven by myself. It was hard to find a rhythm today, but the other guys on the track had to do the same. So it was a good time today and we will see what happens tomorrow.”
McKay Snow finished second overall and in the Am class while Cameron Cassels was fourth in class.
The North American champion in the LB Cup – Mel Johnson – finished second in that class race with his teammate Thomas Lovelady.
Saturday’s second race featured the Pro and Pro AM class competitors. Sandy Mitchell and Andrea Amici finished a close second in the Pro race. Conor Daly and Brandon Gdovic in the No. 146, Precision Performance, Lamborghini Palm Beach entry was third.
Mitchell made a valiant effort to catch Europe’s Jonathan Cecotto at the end and crossed the line only .137 of a second behind the winner.
“That was one of the best battles I’ve had yet,” Mitchell said following the race. “We had a fantastic race finishing second and a great battle with the leading car. Plenty of door handle to door handle action. We looked like we were fast, so I am confident we can do well tomorrow. Starting on P2 tomorrow and ahead of our rivals. I think we are standing in good shape for tomorrow, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Damon Ockey and Jacob Edison, the North American Pro Am champions, finished second in class. Eidson drove the second stint and closed the gap, which was over 10 seconds at one point, to less than four seconds at the end on the eventual class winners – the No. 6 Imperiale Racing entry from Europe.