KUALA LUMPUR – It’s a great start for Johor Racing as they take the top podium spot in Race one of the GT World Challenge Asia first round here at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC).
The team’s car number 99 – driven by HH Crown Prince Tunku Abdul Rahman Sultan Ibrahim and Australian Nick Foster – managed to cross the finish line first despite starting fifth on the grid.
Tunku took the first stint of the race but fell to sixth after a poor start, but Foster quickly picked his way through the pack when they switched seats during the pitstop.
Speaking to the media after the win, Tunku said it was an uphill battle since qualifying to extract pace from the car.
“It was tough to keep up with the others, especially during qualifying, but we kept on pushing and did not give up.
“There is still a lot of work to be done by the team and myself. This is just the beginning,” he said.
Unfortunately, the second Triple Eight JMR Mercedes-Benz AMG GT3 car driven by national racer Jazeman Jaafar and HH Crown Prince Tunku Abu Bakar Sultan Ibrahim was not so lucky.
Starting the race in third, Tunku Abu Bakar managed to quickly put the car up one spot but had to make an unscheduled pitstop due to a mechanical issue.
When Jazeman took over, there was little he could do as the gap to the rest had already built up to over a minute, and they were last to cross the finish line.
Regardless, Tunku was proud of his younger brother’s race start.
“I was very happy to see him ahead of me, he drove well but lost positions due to the mechanical issue.
“I was hoping for a one-two finish. But we just have to take the positives from today, push even harder tomorrow and not make mistakes,” he added.
EBM Giga Racing’s Porsche driven by Adrian D’Silva and Earl Bamber came in second, while their teammates Setiawan Santoso and Reid Harker finished third after Yogibo’s pole-winning Ferrari lost precious time due to a slow tyre change.
Race two for the first round of the GT World Challenge Asia starts at 12pm tomorrow at SIC.
Meanwhile, in the Malaysian Championship Series, Jonathan Xie came in first for the Touring Production category, Putera Adam won the S Production 1 category, Mah Siew Chean and Mark Darwin won in the Malaysian Touring Car, and Aiyub Azlee finished first in S Production 2.
For the GR Vios Sprint Cup, Tengku Djan and Mika Hakimi clinched the top step of the podium while Boy Wong and Nabil Azlan came in second followed by Tom Goh and Freddie Ang in third.
In the Caterham Championship, Shirendra Lawrence emerged victorious, with Paul Ng coming in second and Marcus Chye in third. – The Vibes, May 21, 2022.
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