Defending champion team Porsche Club Singapore is set to start the tenth edition of the Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race (MMER) tomorrow 8 August, on pole position, ahead of 43 cars.
“Good effort by the team, the car is fantastic,” said Darryl O’Young. “I can see the Mosler is going to be the biggest trouble for us this year but it’s a 12 hour race and the key to the car is its reliability.”
Second driver Craig George Baird says the team has been making small changes on the car throughout the three qualifying runs which last 30 minutes each.
“Tyre wear is the thing we are looking at right now and I have to add that this is my first time working with the team and I’m impressed with them,” Craig said.
Fastest qualifier in class A1 is Team Fugazi Racing in Radical driven by Alex Yoong, Faisal Zelman and Wira Dani starting on grid 11 even though the car have been weighed down with weights to qualify it into class A1.
“The car is definitely different from the MSS Radical that I’m used to, the extra weight changes how the car handles and brake,” explained Wira.
Alex Yoong says that they have to be flexible in order to be able to get through the extreme conditions they will have to face while racing in MMER.
Third driver Faisal feels that he can adapt fast to not let the fact that he is still getting used to the open top race car.
“It’s so different from racing in the saloon cars that I raced with.
Not far behind is class A2 car on grid 17, team Honda Malaysia Racing Team piloted by Aaron Lim, Eddie Lew and Rueben Wong in a Civic type R.
“The car performed consistently good throughout practice and qualifying, last year was a bad year for us and I hope things are different this year,” said Aaron.
Rueben is enthusiastic about the race and really looking forward to the race tomorrow.
44 cars will be fighting to be the winner in the tenth edition of the MMER tomorrow 15 cars in class O, 10 in class A1 and 19 in class A2.
Apart from the main race, race fans can also catch the Petronas Formula Experience, Classic car race and the Aston Martin Cup.
Off track attractions includes programs for the kids such as colouring contest ages 4 to 12, kids traditional dance competition, showtime with Fatin Nurafifah and quizzes with loads of prizes to be won.
There will also be special vehicles on display such as the Petronas tanker, Fire Department and Police vehicles from the fast Mitsubishi EVO “Helang” and bikes.
To add more excitement 57 cars from four car clubs such as Lotus Car Club Malaysia and Waja Club will park their cars for display at the mall area.
Entrance is free to the GrandStand area. Watch out for our live coverage of the Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race 2009 beginning 11am tomorrow.
