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11th
August, Sepang – The
atmosphere was charged with excitement as the
tenth edition of the 12 hour Merdeka Endurance
Race was off, flagged off by Motorsport
Association of Malaysia Chairman Dato’ Azman
Yahya ten minutes after the National anthem was
played. He was accompanied by Sepang
International Circuit (SIC) Chairman Datuk
Mokhzani Mahathir, SIC CEO Razlan Razali,
Automobile Association of Malaysia Chairman
Tunku Mudzaffar and Petronas Motorsports General
Manager Anita Azrina Abdul Aziz.
Starting from the seventh slot on the starting
grid, car number 28 of Team Petronas Syntium
made their way up to win the race completing 306
laps in twelve hours.
Driving a BMW Z4, drivers Tatsuya Kataoka,
Manabu Orido and Johan Adzmi snatched the first
place from their team mates Nobuteru Taniguchi,
Masataka Yanagida and Fariqe Hairuman in car
number 28 when they (car 28) had a puncture with
less than 20 minutes left on the clock dropping
to second place.
“It was a real honor to be able to race with the
two experienced Super GT drivers (Tatsuya and
Manabu) as they thought me a lot through the
race,” said Johan, the youngest on the podium
that night.
“Our strategy was to take it easy on the car and
complete the race and that’s what we did and it
pulled through for us.”
In third place for class was last year’s
champion team Porsche Club Singapore Mok Weng
Sun, Darryl Hayden O'Young and Craig George
Baird who made a big comeback after starting the
race from the last spot on the starting grid.
Defending champion team Porsche Club Singapore
stalled at the start and failed to go for the
formation lap, resulting in losing its pole
position and degraded to start the race from the
pit lane as the last car. Fighting back the team
managed to overtake the group and was up to
second place when disaster struck in what looks
like a rear suspension failure forcing them to
pit in 45 minutes into the race.
In class A1 team Fugazi Racing driven by Alex
Yoong, Wira Dani and Faizal Zelman completed 284
in their Radical race car.
“this shows how reliable the Radical can be,
although we had a bit of a starter problem when
we pitted in to refuel but it was rectified with
replacing the starter which only took eight
minutes to do, thanks to my crew for that,” said
Wira.
And finally in class A2 winner is team Type R
racing headed by Wong Yew Choong, Soh Kee Koon
and Lai Wee Sing finishing the race with 279
laps under their belt.
“Thanks to my team for preparing the car, it was
reliable throughout the race, we didn’t have to
worry about that factor at all throghout the
race, wong said.
The race started with 46 cars, 15 in class O, 10
in class A1 and 19 in class A2. 17 cars did not
finish the race with the last car completing
only 140 laps in the 12 hour race.
For latest news, log on to
www.sepangcircuit.com for more info.
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