BATU KAWAN: A cool day with ambient temperatures slowly dropping as dark clouds loomed, it was a hard morning for a few racers who struggled to find the right race setup during the official qualifying of the inaugural three-part Vios Challenge one-make street circuit race series.
Each 25-minute qualifying session for the categories of Promotional, Sporting and Super Sporting, around the 1.65km street circuit outside the Batu Kawan Stadium was rife with activity as drivers chased their best lap times after making a few adjustments to their car.
The Promotional qualifying session at 11.30am, concluded with Shawn Lee in the #6 car taking pole position with a time of 1 minute 18.508 seconds and a top speed of 75.661kph.
Finishing second fastest, just 1.355 seconds behind, was Fattah Amin in the #9 car with a time of 1 minute 19.863 seconds, while third fastest went to the #24 car helmed by Shukri Yahaya finishing with a best time of 1 minute 20.720 seconds.
In the Sporting category, the #10 car driven by Ken Foo finished the 12.30pm session at the top with a best time of 1 minute 19.592 seconds and a top speed of 74.631kph.
Exactly 0.259 seconds behind the top pace maker was the #86 car of Brandon Lim, driving for team Dream Chaser, who finished his qualifying session with a time of 1 minute 19.851 seconds, while Patrick Tam Wei Han in the #13 car representing Team Maxx 'N Go was third fastest with a time of 1 minute 19.876 seconds.
As for the Super Sporting category, which took place at 1.15pm, it was none other than Tengku Djan Ley in the #12 Team Maxx 'N Go car who finished at the top of the time sheets with a blistering time of 1 minute 16.932 seconds and managed to post the fastest overall top speed of 77.211kph.
Next was the #25 car of Mark Darwin, driving for team Dream Chaser, who lapped closely behind just 0.251 seconds slower with a time of 1 minute 17.183 seconds.
Another 0.866 seconds later was Syafiq Ali in the #7 M7 Racing Team car who managed to achieve the third fastest lap of 1 minute 17.798 seconds before the circuit was later almost inundated by heavy rain.
The first instalment of the three part one-make race series took place during the Toyota Gazoo Racing racing festival at the stadium and is open to members of the public for free, while hosting a number of activities including drift shows, celebrity performances, food trucks, test drives and a special showcasing of the Toyota C-HR.
