Kiwi Jono Lester has made a clean sweep of the South Korean round of the 2013 Super Taikyu Series at the new Inje Speedium, to lead the Championship with maximum points.
Lester and team mate Fariqe Hairuman scored both pole positions, both races wins, both fastest laps and set the Race Lap Record en route to the ‘perfect’ weekend for the #28 PETRONAS Syntium Team Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3.
“This was always our goal, but it’s still such a brilliant feeling to pull it off and give our Championship hopes a major boost!” Lester commented.
The event format saw two 45-minute sprint races at the new 3.8km venue instead of Super Taikyu’s usual endurance format, allowing Lester and Hairuman a race each behind the wheel of the #28 car.
Stiff competition, as at the series opener at Sugo, came from the sister #1 PETRONAS Syntium Team car and the GTNET Nissan GT-R piloted by Super GT aces Kazuki Hoshino and Takayuki Aoki.
The GT-R, in fact, equaled Lester’s pole time of 1:35.048 to the third decimal places but started from second on the grid due to Lester’s time being set first.
From there, it was all one-way traffic. Hairuman took a convincing victory in the opening race before Lester gapped the field in the second to win by over 17 seconds.
The new race lap record was set by Lester on the final lap of the race, to cap off a perfect weekend for the 23-year old Kiwi.
“Being the bridesmaid in 2012 was motivation enough to up our game for this season, and we have set the tone for what I hope will be a season of wins for myself and the team.
“Having Fariqe in our car has reignited his mojo also and our overall package is proving to be extremely strong this year.
“With the next race a 5-hour event at Motegi, we head into our next challenge with our heads held high!”
Lester is supported throughout the 2013 season by key partners including Vortex Racewear, Purechoice New Zealand, R Redpath Limited, Opti-Flex, Fastway Couriers, Robbie Bird Wines, CRC MotorNews.co.nz, Mako Networks, iSign it, Sony New Zealand, Sony Xplod, ThrillPledge and Webdesign.
