SJM Theodore Racing Enters Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia with Iron Lynx
An exciting new chapter opens for an iconic name in Asian motorsport with the announcement that multiple Macau Grand Prix winners SJM Theodore Racing has joined forces with Iron Lynx to campaign 22-year-old Macau talent Charles Leong Hon Chio and Japanese female racer Miki Koyama in the 2024 Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia (LSTA), which gets underway at Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit May 3-5.
Celebrated as the first and only Chinese team to enter Formula 1, SJM Theodore Racing makes its LSTA debut this season looking to lift the title with its two young talents at the wheel of their Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2. Supported by long-time partner Macau-based integrated resorts operator SJM Resorts S.A., and in cooperation with Lamborghini specialists Iron Lynx, SJM Iron Lynx Theodore Racing will contest all six rounds of the championship as well as the Lamborghini Super Trofeo World Finals in November.
Commented team principal Teddy Yip Junior: “SJM Iron Lynx Theodore Racing looks forward to contesting the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia with two of the region’s brightest talents, Charles Leong and Miki Koyama, and we’re grateful for the continued support of our long-time partner SJM. Our collaboration with Iron Lynx opens a new chapter for the team, and their unrivalled Lamborghini expertise will ensure we are strong championship contenders in our debut season.”
SJM is the owner-operator of a stellar portfolio of hotels in Macau, both under the Lisboa banner, as well as luxury designer hotels including THE KARL LAGERFELD MACAU and Palazzo Versace Macau. Ms. Daisy Ho, Managing Director of SJM, expressed: “Motorsport plays an integral role in the cultural identity of Macau and of our own. We feel both honoured and committed to supporting our native-born Theodore Racing team every step of the way, to nurture talents, spotlight Macau as a ‘City of Sports’ on the global stage, and attract the world with our dynamism.”
The storied Macau team has supported home-grown talent Leong since 2021, when he took his second Formula 4 Macau Grand Prix title on his home Guia street circuit. Last year he finished a close second to team mate Arvid Lindblad in the Grand Prix’s F4 showcase, completing a triumphant SJM Theodore PREMA Racing one-two finish.
At the age of just 15, Leong won the both the Asian Formula Renault and Chinese F4 championship titles in 2017, making his Formula 3 debuts in Europe and Asia the following year. Having mastered his racecraft via open-wheel competition, more recently Leong has proven his versatility by successfully turning his talents to sportscar competition.
Team mate Koyama, meanwhile, began her career in karting before, like Leong, climbing the single-seater development ladder from domestic Formula 4 in her native Japan. In 2019, the now 26-year-old was selected to join the pioneering W Series, before going on to take the 2022 Formula Regional Japanese Championship crown. In tandem with her LSTA campaign with SJM Theodore Racing, Koyama is also competing in Japan’s Super GT GT300 class this season.
The six-round, 12-race LSTA season begins at the 5.543km Malaysian track, before heading to Australia’s The Bend Motorsport Park for round two from June 7 to 9. Returning to Asia, Round 3 sees the drivers take on South Korea’s dramatic Inje Speedium from July 19-21, before heading to the Fuji International Speedway in Japan from August 16-18. The final races on Asian soil, and penultimate round of the season, will be held at China’s Shanghai International Circuit from September 13-15. The season concludes at Spain’s Jerez de la Frontera track from November 14-17, venue of both the final LSTA round of the year and the annual Lamborghini Super Trofeo World Finals, a season-closing showdown between Super Trofeo competitors from the European, North American and Asian series.
Each LSTA round includes two, 50-minute races, each with a driver change, and championship points are awarded to the top ten finishers on a scale of 15 points for the winner for each of the PRO, PRO-AM, AM and Lamborghini Cup titles.
The entry of Leong and Koyama continues Theodore Racing’s long tradition of nurturing motorsport talent, which has included support of China’s first Formula 1 driver Zhou Guanyu. Founded in the 1970s by Macau business tycoon and passionate motorsport competitor and supporter Teddy Yip, Theodore Racing entered a myriad of championships spanning the globe, including Formula 1, the Indianapolis 500, Formula 5000, Formula 2, Formula Atlantic and Can-Am. Over the years, many of the greatest names in motorsport raced for the team, and its victory in the first-ever Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix with Ayrton Senna in 1983 has become part of motorsport folklore.
In 2008, Yip’s son, Teddy Junior resurrected the legendary name, initially with Status GP. Thirty years after the team’s landmark Senna win at Macau, Theodore Racing returned to the streets of the city in partnership with PREMA Racing to take the first of what has become a long list of Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix victories.
