Muto Claims Second Win, Fox Achieves First Victory

Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli Japan 2025 Round 3 Race 2 was held at the Fuji Speedway circuit. Conducted as Sunday's main event of the 10th Ferrari Racing Days, 32 units of 296 Challenge and 6 units of 488 Challenge Evo delivered high-level racing performances in front of many Ferrari fans.

Under partly cloudy skies with a pleasant breeze, the 30-minute plus 1 lap race took place. In Trofeo Pirelli, Sota Muto (M. Auto Italia) secured his second victory of the season. In the fiercely competitive Trofeo Pirelli Am, Cold Max (Cornes Osaka) prevailed in the close battle. In Coppa Shell, Tsutomu Shimoyama (Cornes Shiba) achieved pole-to-win, as did Alex Fox (Yanase Fiorano Motori) in Coppa Shell Am. In the 488 Challenge Evo category that began from Round 2, Deske (Cornes Shiba) claimed victory.

Trofeo Pirelli. In Trofeo Pirelli with four participants, pole-sitter Muto fended off the pursuit of Nobuhiro Imada (Rosso Scuderia), who showed a strong start from 3rd on the grid, to take the win. This victory avenged his result from Race 1, where despite securing pole position, he fell back in the field. Tadao Uematsu (Cornes Shiba) finished third.

In Trofeo Pirelli Am with five entries, Yasutaka Shirasaki (Rosso Scuderia) secured pole position. He engaged in a close battle with qualifying 2nd place Kanji Yagura (Cornes Osaka), maintaining just a 0.5-second gap until the final stages. However, Yagura retired after contact while avoiding a lapped car. Victory went to qualifying 3rd place Cold Max, with qualifying 5th place Yamatatsu (Cornes Osaka) finishing second.

In Trofeo Pirelli 488 Challenge Evo, Deske, who secured pole position as in Race 1, delivered a composed drive from start to finish to claim the class victory. J (Rosso Scuderia) finished second.

Coppa Shell. In Coppa Shell, following Race 1, Shimoyama secured pole position with speed rivaling the upper classes and dominated Round 3 with a performance that placed him 3rd overall. Second place went to qualifying 4th place Masaru Yoneda (Cornes Osaka), while third was claimed by Norikazu Shibata (Cornes Osaka), who suffered a disappointing retirement in Race 1.

Coppa Shell Am featured the largest field with 16 participants. Fox from France secured pole position and achieved his first victory in Japan. He has a proven track record, having won the championship in Coppa Shell Am of the 2020 Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli Europe. Second place went to qualifying 4th place Hiroyuki Katayama (Cornes Osaka).

Round 4 will be held at Fuji Speedway on July 11-13, the same venue as Round 3.