Vios Challenge concludes with heated action

By JAY WONG | 14 August 2017


BATU KAWAN: The first instalment of the Vios Challenge comes to a close with plenty of heated action in all categories.

The hot Sunday afternoon saw more than 12,000 people turning up to attend the final day of the Toyota Gazoo Racing racing festival and to watch the final four races.

The first of the two-race Super Sporting category began at 1.45pm with plenty of nose-to-tail action as pole-sitter Tenku Djan Ley in car #12 lead the pack to his first victory.

Vios Challenge (day 2) - 01
Drivers of Race 1 - Super Sporting category lining up on the grid.


Better known as 'The Prince of Drift' - Djan in the #12 car for Team Maxx 'N Go, managed to pull away from the pair of Mark Darwin and Syafiq Ali as they vied for second and third place around the tight confines of the 1.65km circuit with 11 turns.

Batu Kawan race circuit
On lap three, driven by James Verappen for team Laser Motor Racing in car #63, was running in seventh place and unfortunately carried too much speed around a corner, putting his car into a wall resulting in a smashed wheel forcing him to retire from the race.

Towards the end of the 18-lap race, Djan managed to catch the back markers and began lapping them after having built a significant 15.182 second gap from second place runner Mark Darwin of car #25 for team Dream Chaser who finished the race in 23 minutes and 32.882 seconds with a best race lap time of 1 minute 18.558 seconds. Another 12.57 seconds later, Syafiq Ali in the #7 M7 Racing Team car clinched third place.

Vios Challenge (day 2) - 30
Djan heads the pack and starts catching back markers, starting with Vicent Ng of Car #68


Although Djan won the first race, the results currently remain provisional due to a technical investigation.

Race 2 of the Promotional category once again saw beatboxer Shawn Lee triumph once more in car #6 after 18 laps, thanks to a good start from pole position, and managed to pull away from the field with Vios Challenge (day 2) - 32 Shawn Lee (car #24) and Danny Koo (car #23) in tow.

By the middle of the race, TRD Asia’s Masaaki Murata in car #2 soon caught car #15 of Diana Danielle in fourth position and attempted to dive in on the inside of turn-three, but instead clipped the rear-end of Diana’s car mid-corner sending both cars into the barrier and out of contention.

Shawn Lee (1st), Shukri Yahaya (2nd) with Danny Koo (3rd) and prize presenter UMW Toyota Motor deputy chairman Akio Takeyama
Podium finishers of Race 2 - Promotional category Shukri Yahaya (2nd), Shawn Lee (1st) and Danny Koo (3rd) with prize presenter UMW Toyota Motor deputy chairman Akio Takeyama


Race 2 for the Sporting Category was equally, if not more, thrilling and almost all drivers were lapping within a second of each other as race leader and Race 1-winner Ken Foo in car #10 traded paint on numerous occasions with Patrick Tam Wei Han in car #13 of Team Maxx 'N Go.

There were many attempts by Patrick to pass Ken, but towards the end of lap 17, Patrick attempted an outside pass on the dirtier side of the circuit and unfortunately understeered straight into the barriers, before getting collected by car #69 of Shanmuganathan Arumugarr as other cars were avoiding the accident scene. Both cars retired from the race.

Vios Challenge (day 2) - 36
Kenneth Koh in car #28 being chased by #69 car of Shanmuganathan Arumugarr.


With Patrick's retirement, it automatically moved third place contender Kenneth Koh in car #28 into second place and Brendon Lim in car #86 for team Dream Chaser into third.

At the end of the race, Ken finished with a total time of 25 minutes 12.384 seconds as well as a best race lap time of 1 minute 21.486 seconds, while Kenneth was just 1.857 seconds behind and Brendon almost kissing his bumper 0.783 seconds later.

Vios Challenge (day 2) - 35 Sporting podium finishers Jackson Tan Siew Chong, Keneth Koh, Ken Foo, Brandon Lim and Goh Eng Peng with Akio Takeyama
Race 2 - Sporting category podium finishers (from left) Jackson Tan Siew Chong (4th), Keneth Koh (2nd), Ken Foo (1st) , Brandon Lim (3rd) and Goh Eng Peng (5th) with prize presenter UMW Toyota Motor deputy chairman Akio Takeyama.


The excitement was renewed once more for the final race of the day as the cars for Race 2 of the Super Sporting category lined up on the grid.

According to the rule book, the top three finishers of the previous race (Race 1 - Super Sporting category) will be reversed and the winner forced to take on additional 20kg of ballast.

Vios Challenge (day 2) - 16
This meant that Syafiq will start at the head of the pack, with Mark in second and Djan with the additional weight in third.

At the start of the race, Djan quickly dived in on the inside of Mark at turn one and managed to get clear before beginning his pursuit of Syafiq who pushed hard to keep him at bay.

A lap later, Syafiq's rear view mirror had Djan's car closing in which later managed to muscle its way past on lap three, thanks Djan managing to carry a good amount of speed coming out of turn-nine to put his himself half of a car ahead.

Vios Challenge (day 2) - 14
Djan (right) lapping a back marker Mitchell Cheah of car #11.


But Shafiq maintained an inside line going into the the left-hand corner of turn 10 and as Djan tried to turn in, Syafiq caught his rear end causing it to step out - something the 'Prince of Drift' is all too familiar with, and was quickly corrected while powering out of the corner to stay ahead. Later on, Syafiq was forced to retire due to damages sustained.

By that time, it was clear that Djan's pace couldn't be matched, even with an extra 20kg of ballast, he managed to cruise to an easy victory, ending the race with a total time of 23 minutes 28.103 seconds and a best race lap time of 1 minute 16.889 seconds to conclude the race events.

The next race will be held on Nov 25 and 26 at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang.

Vios Challenge (day 2) - 35 Podium finishers Ser Meng Hui, Mark Darwin, Tengku Djan Ley, William Ho, Mitchell Cheah and Akio Takeyama
Podium finishers of Race 2 - Super Sporting category (from left) Ser Meng Hui (4th), Mark Darwin (2nd), Tengku Djan Ley (1st), William Ho (3rd) and Mitchell Cheah (5th) with prize presenter UMW Toyota Motor deputy chairman Akio Takeyama.

Shawn Lee (1st), Shukri Yahaya (2nd) with Danny Koo (3rd) and prize presenter UMW Toyota Motor deputy chairman Akio Takeyama
Shawn Lee (1st), Shukri Yahaya (2nd) with Danny Koo (3rd) and prize presenter UMW Toyota Motor deputy chairman Akio Takeyama

Keywords