Thousands of returning fans and spectators for the first time in two years since the Covid-19 pandemic, brought with them a tremendous amount of energy that helped to recharge the atmosphere at Round 2 of Season 5 for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Festival and Vios Challenge race series held at the Sepang International Circuit.

Round 2 concluded with thousands of fans returning and reenergising the event. Sunday morning began with hundreds of participants - including families and children – on bicycles, push scooters, roller blades, skateboards and even runners, being granted access into the track for an All Wheel Fest. This was followed by a Zumba session, the official opening ceremony of the festival, a grid walkabout for fans and spectators, and later a procession of all the Toyota Vios race cars taking part. The festival had also featured a live concert by local rock group Bunkface on Saturday.

Super Sporting

In the premiere Super Sporting Class, rain just as the cars lined up on the grid delayed the start by 25 minutes, before eventually getting underway behind the safety car for two laps.

As the safety car pitted, it was M7 Japan Project Team’s Mohammed Fariqe Hairuman who made the best of his pole position to lead a fiercely-contested front pack that involved no less than six drivers. That lead however, only lasted for two laps before Axle Motorsport’s Hayden Haikal shot pass Mohammed Fariqe for the lead with Laser Motor Racing’s Mark Darwin in tow.

With the lead exchanging hands between the two drivers several times over the next 10 laps, naturally spectators and race fans were expecting it to end as a two-car battle for first place.

What they did not expect to see happen was Prima Pearl TD Racing’s Tengku Djan Ley Tengku Mahaleel posting the fastest time on almost every lap of the race to make his way up from 12th on the starting grid to winning the race 1.5 seconds ahead of Darwin, with Hayden in third.

“It was a very difficult race for sure, especially with so many of us fighting to get ahead of the pack. For wet driving, what is important is the finesse and to have a good understanding of the track conditions. Sepang is a very challenging track…the conditions can vary so much and the racing lines that we normally take can be extremely slippery therefore forcing a driver to explore new racing lines to get around the corner,” said Tengku Djan.

Having missed the first two races of the season due to Covid-19 and bowing out of yesterday’s Race 1 due to a racing incident, Tengku Djan will only have 3 more races remaining in the season to pull out something special from his bag of tricks if he is to defend and capture his fourth overall

Rookie

In the Rookie class, Muhammad Hamdany clinched his first ever race victory to retain his sterling record of four podiums in four races so far. The 19-year-old karter from Kuching, Sarawak finished ahead of simulator racer Nabil Azlan, and the only female driver in the Vios Challenge series, Adele Lew who came in third.

“I was so worried before the start and I changed the set-up of the car which includes readjusting tyre pressures (due to the rain). I’m extremely happy everything worked out well and I was able to finish in P1,” said Muhammad Hamdany.

For Lew, the third-place finish marked her first ever podium finish. The 20-year-old is also the daughter of Super Sporting Class and veteran driver Eddie Lew.

Sporting

Axle Motorsport’s Naquib Azlan concluded a perfect race weekend with two race wins. Finishing second and perhaps the biggest surprise of the weekend was 23 Motors’ Abdul Miqail, followed by M7 Japan Project Team’s Ahmad Tarmimi Tahang.

Starting from sixth position on the grid following a reverse grid format after yesterday’s Race 1 victory, Naquib was on a very determined charge from the get-go, seizing control of the race lead and building a five second gap from as early as the third lap of the 20-lap race.

Promotional

There was lots of drama on the track in the Promotional class for celebrities as early predictions of actors Zizan Razak and Shukri Yahaya running away with the 18-lap race as they had done in Race 1 was proven wrong.

Being the race favourite, Zizan was eyeing a second race win and had held on the lead for much of the race until a technical issue with his transmission forced him to concede five places with three laps to finish.

Shukri was the first to take full advantage of his misfortune but would later suffer a similar fate which promoted television host Nabil Ahmad to race leader. And with two laps to go, singer Wany Hasrita and actress Janna Nick blazed pass the pair of Zizan and Shukri to clinch second and third positions respectively.

Finishing fourth was singer Nabila Razali, while Shukri and Zizan crossed the line in fifth and sixth positions respectively. TV personality Ahirine Ahirudin claimed seventh place and TV host Ain Edruce finished eighth while singer Khai Bahar concluded a disappointing race weekend with a retirement.

Season 5, Round 2, Race 2 results

Super Sporting

1. Tengku Djan Ley - Prima Pearl TD Racing Team

2. Mark Darwin - Laser Motor Racing

3. Hayden Haikal - Axle Motorsports

Sporting

1. Naquib Azlan - Axle Motorsports

2. Abdul Miqail - 23 Motors

3. Tarmimi Tahang - M7 Japan Project Team

Rookie

1. Muhammad Hamdany

2. Nabil Azlan

3. Adele Lew

Promotional

1. Nabil Ahmad

2. Wany Hasrita

3. Janna Nick