12 HOUR MILLENIUM MERDEKA ENDURANCE RACE @ SEPANG

The 12 Hour Merdeka Endurance Race entered it's tenth edition in 2009 and the competition is tougher than ever with world class drivers and teams competing this year. Former F1 pilot Alex Yoong, Le Mans regular Tom Coronel, FIA GT driver Tim Sugden and Super GT driver Masataka Yanagida are among the drivers taking part... [read more]

Early signs looks promising for the defending champion Team Porsche Club Singapore Racing (Porsche 911 GT3) in class O when they took pole position. However, Thunder Asia Racing (Mosler MT900R GT3) driven by the trio of Tim Sugden, Melvin Choo Kwok Ming and Jazeman Jaafar are not far behind in 2nd place while Team Hong Kong Racing (Ginetta G502 ) will start third.

Fastest qualifier in class A1 is Team Fugazi Racing (Radical) driven by Alex Yoong, Faisal Zelman and Wira Dani starting on grid 11. Team Honda Malaysia Racing Team (Civic type R) piloted by Aaron Lim, Eddie Lew and Rueben Wong is fastest in class A2 and will start 17th on the grid. 44 cars will be on the grid for the race with 15 cars in class O, 10 in class A1 and 19 in class A2.

The race were scheduled to start at 11.30 AM local time. Pole sitter Team Porsche Club Singapore Racing (Porsche 911 GT3) stalled on the formation lap and were forced to start from the pitlane.

This paved the way for the Thunder Asia Racing (Mosler MT900R GT3) to lead the way. While the front runners were running away at the front, both the Petronas Syntium Team's BMW Z4 car number 15 and 28 conservatively kept their pace and concentrating on finishing the race rather than chasing the leaders.

This tactics paid off when the BMW Z4 team Petronas Syntium car number 28 driven by Tatsuya Kataoka, Manabu Orido, Johan Adzmi took the lead on the lap 53 with their sister car number 15 driven by Nobuteru Taniguchi, Masataka Yanagida, and Fariqe Hairuman in 2nd place.

Kencana Racing Team driven by Dato' Mokhzani Mahathir, Sven Herberger and Tunku Hammam Sulong dropped to third place.

Seven and a half hours into the race, as the cars blazed through the track at dawn, both the Petronas Syntium Team's BMW Z4 kept their 1st and 2nd place. By this time, the Dilango Racing Sri-Lanka’s Porsche 997 GT3 was up to 3rd. However, both the Thunder Asia Racing's Mosler MT900R GT3 and Team Porsche Club Singapore Racing's Porsche 911 GT3 were staging a late comeback and lapped faster than the rest of the field after earlier problems forced the mechanics to work with the cars in the pit. In class A1, Team Fugazi Racing (Radical) were already a few laps ahead of their competitors.

20 minutes before the end, a dramatic turn around for the race occured when the lead car of Nobuteru Taniguchi, Masataka Yanagida and Fariqe Hairuman in car number 15 suffered a left rear puncture. The sister car number 28 took the lead and finished the race in 1st place.

The Petronas Syntium Team's BMW Z4 car number 15 managed to limp back to the pit to change tyre and finished the race in 2nd place.

Team Porsche Club Singapore Racing (Porsche 911 GT3) finished 3rd, 5 laps behind the winner. LKM Racing Team (Porsche) finished 4th and Danville Motorsports (Porsche 997 above) finished 5th.

Despite having the fastest car on the grid and registering the fastest lap of the race with the time of 2:07.830, Thunder Asia Racing (Mosler MT900R GT3) only managed to finish 6th.

Team Fugazi Racing (Radical) is the winner in class A1 and class A2 was won by the Team Type R Racing headed by Wong Yew Choong, Soh Kee Koon and Lai Wee Sing. 17 cars retired before the race and the winner lapped the Sepang International Circuit 305 times in 12 hour.

For more photos from the 12 Hour Millennium Merdeka Endurance Race at the Sepang International Circuit, click here

Photo/Editorial: Anas Zakaria