With the 13th International 12 Hours Malaysia Merdeka Endurance Race about to take place, come 29th August 2012 at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC), Australian racer – Chris O’Shannessy, will soon be returning to our very own shores to take part in this year’s MMER 2012 race, but that’s not all – the Toyota 86 will also be making it’s inaugural appearance at this year’s MMER as well!
Australian driver, O’Shannessy, enthusiastically heads up towards us after having achieved third in class in last year’s MMER. His eyes fervently set on the top step this year with a shared drive Wing Hin Motorsport and TRD Kuala Lumpur’s Toyota Altezza as he further explains:
“I’m really looking forward to being back in the driver’s seat and back with such a great team. We’ve had some success last year, and are confident there’s more to come. We’ve completed extensive developments on the car for this year’s effort, with the inclusion of a few ‘nice to have’ items such as a driver cool suit system and a brand new sequential gearbox, along with a raft of other new components. Personally I’m never one to make the big calls early so I’m not going to ‘put the mockers’ on us, suffice to say we’re always learning new things about the car and new ways to extract a little more speed from what is already a great package and an absolute pleasure to drive.”
The Toyota 86 will make its inaugural appearance alongside Wing Hin Motorsport’s Toyota Altezza at this year’s MMER and will act as a test-bed for TRD Japan, who will be utilising Sepang’s 5.5km circuit’s 15 turns to baptise the 86 with some racing-heat to help aid in the process of collecting information for parts development.
Chris O’Shannessy and Wing Hin Motorsport are proudly supported by Toyota Racing Development Japan and Kuala Lumpur, Twenty 8 Accountants, Gatorz Vizion Australia, AppMixPro & Cork Media and Safe Drive Training Malaysia.
The MMER Sepang International 12 Hour event will again see both local and international participation, eager for a place on the podium after having done an estimated 9,300 gear changes over the course of 260 laps that’s roughly 1,500km long.
