Ward “Really Pleased and Proud” With U.S. Success at Jerez

Photo: Lamborghini

Chris Ward, Lamborghini America’s senior manager of motorsport, says he’s “really pleased and proud” with the results achieved by North American teams in this weekend’s Super Trofeo World Final at Jerez.

Steven Aghakhani (pictured above, center) and Chad Reed won the World Final titles in the Am and LB Cup classes, respectively, while Andrea Amici and Sandy Mitchell took a Pro race win, and Ashton Harrison became the first female class winner in World Final history.

It comes after a strong season of Super Trofeo North America competition, that played out over five weekends in the U.S. and its final two races on Friday at Jerez.

“I’m just really pleased and really proud,” Ward (above, right) told Sportscar365.

“It’s great to have Ashton on the top step of the podium as the first female driver to achieve an overall podium in a World Final race in Super Trofeo. I’m delighted for her and the team.

“Having Chad adding another championship to his haul is obviously great exposure for the series, we’re really pleased for him and hope that we’ll see him back next year. It’s been a great day.”

Ward says he was impressed with the whole weekend for the World Final’s first visit to the Andalusian circuit, which attracted a turnout of 15,000. 

“It’s been a very good event,” he said. “The surprise of the weekend has been the number of fans that have been here to watch the races.

“Jerez is a huge motorsport town and they’re huge favorites of the motorcycle races that take place here.

“If I cast my mind back to seven years ago and World Finals of past, we were pretty much on our own in the paddock, so I think that the job we’ve done in the past seven years and the motorsport program as a whole, and the growth that we’ve shown, the fans that we’ve got here are testament to that.”

“Seemingly Record Interest” in Super Trofeo NA for 2020

Ward expects another strong grid for Super Trofeo North America next year, with a number of new teams interested in joining.

“The championship in the U.S. continues to go from strength to strength and there is seemingly record interest in new teams joining the championship next year but I know we’re very early in the off-season,” he said.

“I hope that in the coming weeks and months, there will be really positive announcements on new teams joining the championship.

“We’ve got at least three brand-new teams that have visited with me and made the trip over from the U.S. to come and see a World Final in preparation for next year, so that gives me huge encouragement for next year.

“I think in total, right now I have seven new teams that I’m actually talking to for bringing cars into the championship for next year, which would just be an explosive growth.”

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.