Sobue reigns in Singapore to win eSIC 2025
Axon’s Akio Sobue reigned over the third edition of the Electric Singapore International Challenge (eSIC), the Top Qualifier backing up Saturday’s performance with a dominant Sunday. Taking the A1 win ahead of Xray’s Alexander Hagberg, the Japanese driver would repeat the result in A2 to secure an early overall win in Singapore. Debuting the first production example of Axon’s upcoming TC10/4 Touring Car release the result was the perfect launch for the Japanese manufacturer’s new car. While Sobue had the perfect weekend his team-mate Hayato Ishioka would be less fortunate. Securing P2 in qualifying after topping Q3, he suffered an electrical issue in A1 and A2, but with Sobue able to sit out A3 and watch he gave Ishioka his electrics for A3 and that led to the most exciting of the three A-Main encounters. With the power setting of Sobue’s ESC a little more aggressive to his own, leading away the field Ishioka would overshoot the back straight and drop down the order as Nicholas Lee took over the lead. Shadowed by Hagberg the Xray duo looked to have the race under control until Lee spun out. Having to change car for A3 after an off destroyed his car in A2, Lee was at a loss to explain why he spun out when he ‘wasn’t under pressure’ from his team-mate. With Hagberg now leading and Ishioka seemingly some way back, the Japanese driver came out of nowhere in the last two laps setting up a perfect show down of a drag race to the finish line – Hagberg just getting it by 0.027 to secure second overall. With Atsushi Hara backing up his P3 finish from A1 with another in A3, A2 not going his way, the former World Champion completed the podium at RCMC.
