Toyota Gazoo Racing Festival – Season 2 Round 2 sees impactful on-track action in hot Sepang on Day 1
The Return of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Festival at Sepang International Circuit for Round 2 of Season 5 drew public attendance back to the festival, and with it the renewed excitement of spinning the wheels on the track.
As before, the competitors are classified in four different categories – Super Sporting for professional and elite riders, Sports for amateur/gentlemen, Promo for those Popularity and Rookie Class for outstanding young talent who share the grid with top-notch Super Sports.
Super sports
The race kicked off in the Super Sporting category and the drama unfolded almost instantaneously, with the first lap seeing a clash between Eddie Lew of Laser Motor Racing and Tengku Djan Ley Tengku Mahaleel of Team race Prima Pearl TD, as a result both were disqualified from the race.
Taking the lead, the lead group of Mitchell Cheah (Prima Pearl TD Team) and Mark Darwin (Laser Motor Racing Team) took a 10-second lead over their nearest competitors, while Freddie Ang of Telagamas Toyota managed to cross the field to take a final finish in third place, ahead of Axle Sports’ Hayden Haikal.
In checkers, Cheah led all the way to the end to win the race, keeping a 2.1-second gap over Darwin. “The conditions today are extremely difficult with hot sun. I just focus on the task at hand and do my best to avoid making any mistakes. Honestly, that was pretty hard to do with Darwin which put me under a lot of pressure,” race winner Cheah said of his Race 1 outing.
A second-place finish in Race 1 represents a strong comeback for Darwin, who missed the first two races of the season because of illness. “It was great to be back on the podium having missed the first two races of the season due to COVID-19. It was a tough race, Cheah was super quick today and I really couldn’t do anything else to catch him,” Darwin said of his race.
Rookie class
Promising young talent was introduced in the Rookie Class, which again saw Nabil Azlan clinching his second race win of the season. Muizz Musyaffa followed shortly after finishing in second place, with Muhammad Hamdany’s finished podium. This is also the second and third podium appearances for Muizz and Hamdany.
“It was not the easiest race for me with Muizz on the tail. It was very difficult and I just had to maintain a good pace. The heat also had a huge effect on the tires this afternoon and that forced me to constantly shift my brake points into corners,” Nabil said.
“I feel great. Today was good and I can stay with the leaders throughout the race. However, as conditions got hotter, I started to lose a lot of time because I couldn’t turn corners either. I’ll definitely try to get through it to get past it in four (4 races and 4 podiums) in Race 2 tomorrow,” Hamdany recalls of his Race 1 outing.
Sports class
The Sport Class race was halted shortly after it started on the first lap, where a massive collision disabled two cars and brought red flags. After a 15-minute break to clear the track, the race for amateurs and gentlemen continued with 3 unchanged leads.
Axle Sports’ Naquib Azlan wasted no time in starting over, gradually taking the lead in the early and mid stages of Race 1 for Sport. The Rookie Class graduate extended his lead by nearly four seconds, before S&D Tama Motorsports’ Tom Goh increased his pace and closed the gap in the closing stages to 2.3 seconds by waving the flag Caro.
23 Motors’ Abdul Miqail took on Crestmax Motorsport’s Bradley Benedict Anthony, fighting for most of the race and fighting to the final lap, when 16-year-old Miqail pulled through to claim his podium result in the Weightlifting Division. sports.
Promotion class
The Celebrity Promotion saw actor Zizan Razak take control early in Race 1, overcoming a 12-second gap over presenter Nabil Ahmad in No. two by the checkered flag, while TV presenter Ahirine Ahirudin took the podium in third place.
The start of Race 1 for Promotion saw Shukri Yahaya start early, leading to his disqualification for the first race of the weekend. Unaware of his race status, Shukri slowed to cross the field before continuing the chase, gradually fighting to finish second.
Meanwhile, singers Nabila Razali and Khai Bahar finished Race 1 at P4 and P5, respectively, and Janna Nick finished sixth. TV presenter Ain Edruce finished seventh, while Singer Wany Hasrita finished the race in eighth place.
In addition to racing on the track, the Toyota Gazoo Racing Festival features an urban street food area with food carts serving up local delicacies, while those looking for a different kind of action on the road. Wheels can reach pump ramps for bicycles and skateboards.
On stage, Malaysian band Bunkface was the standout performer, followed by Indonesian singer Judika during the second day of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Festival for Round 2 of Season 5.
On Sunday, racing action continues at the northern track of Sepang International Circuit, where the top five finishers in each category in Race 1 will head to Race 2 in the island grid reverse.
