Under the dark of night; a first for the series, Season 4 of the Toyota Gazoo Vios Challenge drew to a close with the champions crowned amidst some door-to-door racing sprinkled with some rain to ensure the winners earned their wins.

Unsurprisingly, Tengku Djan picked up his third overall championship title in the Super Sporting Class. Joining him on the overall champs stage was Clement Yeo with his first ever overall title in the Sporting Class while actor Shukri Yahaya finally clinched his first overall title in the Promotional Class after four years. Completing the winners circle was young simulator racer Naquib Azlan as the first ever overall champion in the Rookie Class.

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The final race of the season under the floodlights of the Sepang International Circuit produced some of the year’s most intense battles as no less than three individuals were in close contention for the overall championship title in each of the four classes.

Promotional Class – Race 1
1. Shukri Yahaya
2. Zizan Razak
3. Akio Takeyama

Not content with playing second fiddle to the other classes, the Promotional Class served up the most dramatic action this time round. Eventual class championg Shukri Yahaya pushed hard from pole position to lead the race from start to finish but behind him the drama saw championship contender Zizan Razak struggle to hang on to second spot with pressure from Khai Bahar and Akio Takeyama.

The trio traded places with Zizan dropping back to fourth at one point but he fought back with an aggressive overtake on Lap 11 to take second from Akio and even managed to pile on the pressure on Shukri in the lead.

Drama ensued as Zizan even made a pass on Shukri three corners from the chequered flag to win. Nonetheless, officials penalised the actor for exceeding track limits when overtaking and he was served with a five-second penalty that dropped him back to second.

Super Sporting – Race 1
1. Freddie Ang - Telagamas Toyota
2. Mark Darwin - Laser Motor Racing
3. Tengku Djan Ley - Prima Pearl Auto

The elites of the Super Sporting had everything to race for as well. Telagamas Toyota’s Freddie Ang made the most of pole position to finish the race ahead of Laser Motor Racing’s Mark Darwin in second spot and Prime Pearl Auto’s Tengku Djan Ley in third.

Djan made the most of the race as he started in tenth but clawed his way up to third. Although he qualified second, a penalty from the previous round saw him dropped to tenth. That never stops the Prince of Drift though.

Sporting Class – Race 1
1. Bradley Benedict Anthony - Dream Chaser
2. Ady Rahimy - 23 Motors
3. Dannies Ng

Once again, it was the post-race that determined the results and not the on-track racing. Although 23 Motors’ Ady Rahimy led from start to finish, he was later handed a one-position penalty that promoted Bradley as race winner and Ady demoted to second. Contact with Super Evergreen Motorsports’ Amirul Hakimi was the reason behind the penalty.

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The battle for third was a five-way battle royale. Mirza Syahmi Mahzan of Aylezo Motorsports held on to third for the first 12 of the 20-lap race before Clement Yeo swooped in and snatched it from him. However, Clement went wide on the exit of the last corner and dropped to fifth. Dannies Ng didn’t need a second invitation and took third.

Championship leader Adam Khalid of Crestmax Motorsports started from fourth but saw it all slip away as an incident on lap six dropped him to tenth position. Adding insult to injury, he was latter slapped with a drive-through penalty for causing the incident and finished 16th.

Rookie Class – Race 1
1. Putera Adam
2. Jwan Hii
3. Naquib Azlan

The battle of the young guns saw 14-year-old Putera Adam win the race by 1.3-seconds ahead of Jwan Hii and championship contender Naquib Azlan.

Driving a calm and composed race, Putera raced ahead of the pack from pole position, followed closely by Hii and Naquib as Mika Hakimi relinquished his position to enter the pit to address a technical issue. That stop dropped him to fifth position behind Amer Harris.

Sporting Class – Race 2
1. Clement Yeo
2. Bradley Benedict Anthony - Dream Chaser
3. Kenneth Koh Panglima City - Racing Team

Spicing things up for Race 2 was the rain for a wet and wild race. No less than 6 cars were involved in skirmishes from the very first lap of the race as a result of a wet track. Clement Yeo made a brilliant start from fifth position on the grid to stay within a car’s length of Panglima City Racing Team’s Kenneth Koh, before eventually passing him for the lead.

Things weren’t any calmer behind as Ady Rahim was pelted off the track in the battle for third, fourth and fifth but he wasn’t alone as Team Fokus Tetap’s Lim Chun Beng, Datuk Ken Foo, A. Shanmuganathan, Eric Yong and Amirul Haikal followed suit.

These incidents brought out the safety car six laps into the 20-lap race and negated the lead Clement had built over Kenneth. As the race resumed, Bradley shot pass Koh for second place.

Clement won the championship with the win and also the purse of RM50,000.

Promotional Class – Race 2
1. Khai Bahar
2. Shukri Yahaya
3. Zizan Razak

All eyes were on actors Shukri Yahaya and Zizan Razak as they were in contention for the overall championship. The 18-lap race began fiercely with Zizan taking the lead and Shukri in tow while singer Khai Bahar was in third.

It was all going well until Zizan went wide, allowing Shukri and Khai to leap ahead of him. It was the end of Zizan’s challenge for the win as he never recovered and finished third.

A close to a photo finish as it could be, Shukri had to dig deep to hold back the quicker Khai with only 0.3 seconds separating them as Shukri took the win. Nonetheless, disaster struck as officials meted out a penalty to Shukri that relegated him to second but he still made the most of the season to win the overall title.

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Super Sporting – Race 2
1. Tengku Djan Ley - Prima Pearl Auto
2. Mitchell Cheah - 23 Motors
3. Freddie Ang - Telagamas Toyota

An incredibly fierce battle at the front between the three drivers in contention for the overall championship meant it all came down to the wire. Although 23 Motors’ Mitchell Cheah won the 20-lap race ahead of Prima Pearl Auto’s Tengku Djan Ley and Telagamas Toyota’s Freddie Ang, a post-race penalty against Cheah dropped him to second.

It was all Djan needed to claim the overall championship title and the prize money of RM70,000.

Rookie Class – Race 2
1. Putera Adam
2. Naquib Azlan
3. Jwan Hii

Transforming his simulator experience into on-track performance for the first time was enough to see Naquib Azlan crowned the overall championship with a second-place finish behind Putera Adam and Jwan Hii.

Overall Winners
Super Sporting Class - Tengku Djan Ley
Sporting Class - Clement Yeo
Rookie Class - Naquib Azlan
Promotional Class - Shukri Yahaya