SJM Theodore Racing Gets Set For Second Season in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia Championship
Iconic Asian motorsports team SJM Theodore Racing begins another exciting campaign of sportscar racing at Australia’s Sydney Motorsport Park from April 4-6 with the first round of the 2025 Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia (LSTA).
Celebrated as the first and only Chinese team to enter Formula 1, multiple Macau Grand Prix winners SJM Theodore Racing is heading into a second season in LSTA with its two talented young drivers behind the wheel of their Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2.
Supported by long-time partner, Macau-based integrated resorts operator SJM Resorts S.A., SJM Theodore Racing will contest all six rounds of the championship as well as the Lamborghini Super Trofeo World Finals at Misano, Italy, in November.
23-year-old Macau talent Charles Leong Hon Chio will be joined by new signing, Ireland’s Alex Denning, for the series which takes place across three continents.
After a successful first season in the category in 2024 when the squad recorded 10 podium finishes on their way to second in the championship, Theodore team principal Teddy Yip Junior is looking forward to consolidating the strong results of 2024 and developing a consistent title winning challenge in 2025
Teddy Yip Junior: “SJM Theodore Racing will contest the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia series with two bright, emerging talents, Charles Leong and Alex Denning, and we’re grateful for the continued support of our long-time partner SJM. With the knowledge and experience gained from a successful first season in the category we aim to be consistent contenders this year.”
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.
In announcing the continuing collaboration between SJM and Theodore racing, Ms. Daisy Ho, Managing Director of SJM, said: “Motorsport is a key part of the heritage and cultural identity of Macau and of SJM. We are honoured to support our local Theodore Racing team every step of the way, committed to nurturing young talent while continuing to spotlight Macau as a global ‘City of Sports’, and demonstrating our energy and dynamism to the world.”
The Theodore team has supported home-grown talent Charles Leong since 2021, when he took his second Formula 4 Macau Grand Prix title on his home Guia street circuit. In 2023 he finished a close second to teammate Arvid Lindblad in the Macau Grand Prix F4 showcase, completing a triumphant SJM Theodore PREMA Racing one-two finish.
In 2017, at the age of just 15, Leong won the both the Asian Formula Renault and Chinese F4 championship titles, going on to make his Formula 3 debut in both Europe and Asia the following year. Having honed his racecraft via open-wheel competition, more recently Leong has proven his versatility by successfully turning his talents to sportscar competition.
Teammate Denning, meanwhile, began his career in karting before switching to cars in a championship winning assault on the Ford Fiesta ST series in his native Ireland. In 2022, Denning was runner-up and Rookie Championship winner in the British Mini Challenge JCW with 10 podium finishes and seven victories and in the last two seasons has recorded podium winning performances in the GT4 European Series at the wheel of a McLaren Artura GT4.
The six-round, 12-race LSTA season begins at the 3.93km Sydney Motorsport Park in Australia, before heading to Shanghai, China for round two from May 16 to 18. The drivers will take on Japan’s legendary Fuji International Speedway from June 27-29. Round four is at the South Korean venue of Inje from 18-20 July and the penultimate round of the series is set for Malaysia’s Sepang Circuit. The season concludes in Italy at Misano from November 06-07, 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 Denning 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.
