The 10th edition of the Merdeka Millennium Endurance (MME) race on Saturday proved to be a triumphant one for the PETRONAS Syntium Team. The team’s six drivers in the two BMW Z4M Coupes completed the gruelling 12-hour race with a memorable and exciting 1-2 finish.
In addition to winning the race, the trio of Tatsuya Kataoka, Manabu Orido and Malaysian youngster Johan Adzmi in the #28 car also took home the honours of being the overall champions. Finishing in a valiant second place were teammates Masataka Yanagida, Nobuteru Taniguchi and Fariqe Hairuman in the #15 BMW Z4M Coupe.
Race Report
Flagged off at 11:30a.m Malaysian time, the 12-hour endurance race started off well for both cars, despite starting from the third and fourth row of the grid with the #15 in 6th and the #28 BMW Z4M Coupe in 7th. With Japanese drivers Masataka Yanagida and Tatsuya Kataoka taking the responsibilities as the starting drivers for the #15 and #28 cars, respectively; their consistent strategy saw both drivers progress through the field during their stint.
As a result of incidents involving cars ahead of them, the first round of stops and driver changes after the first hour saw the team continue to improve on its positions. It was not long before the #15 car in the hands of seasoned campaigner Nobuteru Taniguchi took over the lead of the race ahead of teammate Manabu Orido in the #28 as the race reached its second hour.
The next change over came well into the second hour with Malaysian Fariqe Hairuman taking over from Taniguchi in the #15 car; while Orido made way for his younger teammate Johan Adzmi for his first stint in the #28. Making his debut in this year’s MME, the 20-year old was able to display a confident and consistent drive to maintain the #28’s second place.
As the race progressed in the hot and sunny conditions, both cars were able to maintain their 1-2 position during the afternoon though the lead changed hands between them several times. By the seventh hour and the 200th lap, the race had entered the night stage with the #15 in the lead of the race, ahead of the #28 car. The positions remained unchanged through the evening stops.
The drama would however unfold as the race entered its final hour, which brought back memories of the 2007 race when a mechanical failure in the 11th hour robbed the team of a win. On Lap 288, the leading #15 car then piloted by Masataka Yanagida was involved in a collision which forced him off track. The Japanese did manage to keep the engine running and was able to return to the track as he nursed the stricken BMW back to the pits. As a result of the accident, the #28 car that had been almost a lap down prior to the incident, took over the lead of the race.
Working furiously against the clock, the mechanics successfully managed to fix the damaged rear tyre allowing Yanagida to rejoin the race in second position with a deficit of over a minute to the leading #28 car. The Japanese threw the hammer down and blitzed through the field to catch his teammate with the clock ticking down on him. His efforts had allowed the #15 to gain almost 2 seconds a lap to close within 50 seconds to his teammate into the final stages of the race.
As the race reached its 12th hour mark on Lap 306, it was the #28 BMW Z4M Coupe driven by the trio of Kataoka, Orido and Johan that emerged victorious, winning the gruelling race ahead of teammates Yanagida, Taniguchi and Fariqe who despite the scare managed to finish second, giving the team a memorable 1-2 finish.
David Wong, Team Principal, PETRONAS Syntium Team:
“This was not just a simply fantastic race for us but also a milestone! I am overwhelmed and it is difficult to find the right words! This was our third attempt with the BMW Z4M Coupe at the MME. After all the disappointment of the past two attempts, I have to say that we have come a really long way to get this far and to get a 1-2 result here is simply fantastic!
“Everybody on the team, from the mechanics, pit crew and engineers, did a truly magnificent job! Everything paid off, the planning, coordination and strategy was perfect and this was a brilliant result for the hard work and long hours everyone put into this campaign! Congratulations to drivers in the winning #28 car as everything worked well for them. Congratulations also to the #15 car for what was also a great race, despite the setback near the end.
“Anything can happen in a long endurance race like this. Considering the conditions that the drivers have to endure with temperatures soaring over 70°C in the cockpit, they did a superb job today! I also want to thank our partners PETRONAS and Yokohama for their incredible support and continued encouragement!”
# 28 BMW Z4M Coupe, Race Winner Class O and Overall Champions
Tatsuya Kataoka (JPN)
“We made no mistakes, the team did a perfect job today and we managed to win the race! Also, the car was absolutely great to drive! I want to thank everyone on the team for all their hard work to prepare for this weekend and to our partners PETRONAS and Yokohama for their incredible support! This is my second time at the MME and to come back with a win after the disappointment of last year is a great feeling!”
Manabu Orido (JPN)
“This 1-2 finish is a really great and a special result for the PETRONAS Syntium Team! The target for us was to have a good clean and safe race to the finish. In some ways, we were also quite lucky as we were running in second place during the night stage behind our teammates in the #15 car. But when they had an accident, we had the window to take over the lead. At the end of the day, everybody did a fantastic job and I want to thank PETRONAS for giving me this opportunity to drive the MME and for all their support!”
Johan Adzmi (MAS)
“First of all, I want to thank PETRONAS, the PETRONAS Syntium Team, our team principal David Wong for believing in me and for giving me this wonderful opportunity to drive at the MME! I also want to thank my teammates Kataoka and Orido, as well as Yanagida, Taniguchi and Fariqe for guiding and teaching me as this was my first time driving at the MME. It is such an honour to be able to drive with them, especially with the years of experience they have between them! I really cannot begin to describe how incredible this feeling is! All I know for sure is that this moment is truly special for me and I am sure for the team!
#15 BMW Z4M Coupe, 2nd Place Class O, 2nd Overall
Masataka Yanagida (JPN)
“Congratulations to the #28 car on the win! I want to also thank all the staff, team mechanics, engineers and management for the incredible job and support we had this weekend! After the disappointment of the 2008 race, the PETRONAS Syntium team managed to finish with an incredible 1-2 result! Were it not for that accident, it would have been a perfect ending to what was otherwise a perfect race for us. The strategy was perfect and the crew did an amazing job to prepare for this race, especially with the short time between the Super Taikyu Endurance race at the Fuji 4-hour race last weekend and the MME this weekend! Of course I am disappointed after the accident in the last hour of the race but it was a racing incident and in a race like this, so many things can happen. I have to thank the mechanics for doing a truly incredible job working against the clock to fix the car! I am happy that we managed to deliver this 1-2 result this year for the team and for our partners PETRONAS and Yokohama, who gave us so much encouragement!”
Nobuteru Taniguchi (JPN)
“I am happy that the team has managed to come away from the 2009 MME race with a 1-2 finish, which is a great result! As competitors, our goal was to win the race and we had an almost perfect race except for the accident near the end of the race. Even though we had the accident, the good thing is that the team managed to fix the car and we could come back to complete the 1-2 result. Thank you to everyone on the team for a great job this weekend; and to our partners PETRONAS and Yokohama for the great support!”
Fariqe Hairuman (MAS)
“First of all, thank you to our team boss David Wong and to the team members for such a wonderful job to get both cars to the finish at this year’s MME! After the experience we had in the last two years, the fact that we were able to finish the 12-hour race is already an achievement and that we managed to come away with a 1-2 makes it very special! Even with the little moment near the end I am so happy that the team managed to get the perfect result!”
