The Cartrade-ABT Motorsports team aims to achieve an overall top placing and a Class A win in the Merdeka Millennium Endurance 08 (MME08) race to be held at the Sepang International Circuit from 28 – 30 August. This is the first time that the Cartrade-ABT Motorsports team is participating in the MME race.
The team participated in the two previous MME races as the Cartrade Motorsports team. The team was placed 29rd position overall in 2006 and improved to 7th position overall last year. Two of the drivers and the pit team are full-time staff of Cartrade-ABT.
Cartrade-ABT is one of the official sponsors of the MME race and also for the MME support vehicles.
“Our primary objective in participating in the MME race is to motivate our technical staff and well as improve their daily operations efficiency,” asserts Dato’ Ilyas Mohamed, Team Principal of the Cartrade-ABT Motorsports team. “We’re optimistic in realising an overall top placing for our team with the latest entry-level Lotus 2-eleven vehicle.”
The fan base for motorsports is gaining a much wider appeal among Malaysians, adds Dato’ Ilyas, and the MME serves as an ideal catalyst in the national motorsports development.
The MME race, the brainchild of Sepang International Circuit Chairman Datuk Mokhzani Tun Dr. Mahathir, has emerged as one of the country’s globally recognised premier local events. The event has also made local motorsports history by being the first 12-hour endurance race organised and promoted by Malaysians.
The 12-hour endurance race tests the drivers’ skills and the extreme limits of each sports car. Every team comprises three drivers with each driver racing for a maximum of 75 minutes before switching.
“The MME race is a good platform to brand-build Cartrade-ABT as we have the technical expertise, maintenance capacities, and equipment to support the maturing motorsports industry,” says Dato’ Ilyas.
Among the celebrity drivers who have participated in the MME race include Karamjit Singh, Jimmy Loh, Keifli Othman, Adam Lokman, Alex Yoong, Japanese GT driver Kunimitsu Takahashi, and Mohamed Fairuz, the young racer who aims to be the next Formula One driver.
The Cartrade-ABT Motorsports team comprises Helmi Ilyas, 27, Director of Sales, Cartrade-ABT, and a three-time MME race participant with a best win of 5th in Class “A”; Adam Ilyas, 24, Sales Manager Cartrade-ABT, an experienced cart racer; and Hisham Jahudi, 30, a motoring journalist and a experienced race car driver with strong credentials in local motorsports.
The team’s Lotus 2-eleven car weighs 750 kg with high revving 255PS with the capacity to sprint from 0 – 60 mph in 3.9 seconds. The car was tuned and set up by the Cartrade-ABT team assisted by ABT Sportsline Germany with a better gear ratio, chassis tuning, clutch, and extractor for durability.
