Endurance racing is no easy feat. One would need both man and machine to work in perfect harmony, overcoming the odds and challenges that lie ahead to actually reach the chequered flag. While finishing the race is already considered as an achievement, Team Clearwater Racing’s #1 Ferrari 458 GT3 driven by W.S. Mok, A. Hamdan and G. Bruni went a step further by winning the race for the second consecutive time.
Although their well-known arch rivals, the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3s of Petronas Syntium Team are no longer in the game, that does not mean that the race will be a walk in the park for them. From the start to the end of the race, the Clearwater Ferraris of #1 and #12 piloted by Richard Wee, K. Sawa and Craig Baird were faced with constant pressure by the #007 Aston Martin GT3 from CraftBamboo Racing.
Driven by the trio of Frank Yu, Stefan Mucke and Warren Luff, CraftBamboo gave great chase to the Italian machines throughout the race and even took the lead a couple of times. Unfortunately they missed the podium by one spot with a total of 316 laps in the bag, finishing them in fourth.
And not to forget, team Nexus Racing was also an immediate threat as they have an ex-Petronas driver Dominic Ang riding alongside Adrian H D’Silva and Melvin Moh in the blue #27 Ferrari 458 GT3. Finishing one lap behind CraftBamboo, they finished in fifth overall.
While at first we thought we will be missing the iconic V8 rumble of the SLS GT3 in this year’s edition of the endurance race, Mike Racing came to the rescue with their own bright-orange #96 SLS GT3. Driven by Michael Chua, Joseph Chua and Cheang Wan Chin, they crossed the line in seventh position, having completed 297 laps.
This sole Lamborghini Gallardo was operated by Arrows Racing and it did display some serious pace throughout the race. Travelling in great speeds, this #888 V10 monster howled throughout the circuit to finish eighth in the GT3 category. Ro C. Skyangel, Henri Richard, Max Twigg and Ringo Chong completed 281 laps in the 12-hour race.
Down in the GTC category, a great battle was fought between the Porsche 997 Cup cars against the fast-charging Audi R8 Cups. B-Quik Racing’s #26 Audi R8 managed to secure a second position in the category, where Henk J Kiks, Dainel Bilski and Darlo Garcia managed to complete 285 laps, at the same time finishing them ninth overall.
Although Daniel Stutterd, Dylan Thomas and John De Veth in the #68 Motorsport Services Porsche 997 Cup car only completed 248 laps, it had earned them a third place finish in the category.
From the early hours of the race, Team NZ’s #777 Porsche 997 already showed great potential for a podium finish. Maintaining its pace, Graeme Dowsett, John Curran, Will Bamber and Yuey Tan was rewarded with a win in the GTC category, with 291 laps.
In the Sports and Touring Production, the #77 Subaru from Jim Hunter Motorsports started the race in pole, but was faced with an array of technical problems that had dropped them to 25th place. However, Jim Hunter, Gavin Bullas and Grant Johnson managed to push the car to complete 242 laps, earning them a fifth class finish.
The #10 Uber-Driven Civic FN2 faced a great challenge even before the race as they were involved in a massive crash in one of the practice sessions. Miraculously, they managed to fix the car for the race and Joel Cheong, Khuah Kang Yong, Adrian Ho and Benny Tan managed to bring home a seventh position finish in the category.
But finishing in front of them with also 241 laps in the bag is our own #88 Toyota 86 from Wing Hin Motorsports. While the car ran faultlessly during the early part of the race, it was then plagued with an overheating problem that could have been fatal. The quick action of the crew members managed to fix the problem, allowing Tomoya Kato, Tom Goh and Chris Tan to go home with a sixth place finish.
ST Powered came down with a fleet of four Honda Civic FD2 race cars and while the #22 (Teh Kian Boon, Desmond Soh, Derrick Ang), #11 (Kevin Kwee, Ong Wai Kwong, Lee Lung Nien) and #44 (Zheng Jianrong, Teh Kiam Tion, Joe Lim Zhisheng) had to finish in eighth, ninth and tenth in the category respectively, the #33 driven by Freddie Teo, Paul Chiam and Sim Soon Ying managed to take home a fourth place finish in the category.
The battle for the Sports and Touring Production podium spots were closely fought between the cars of R Engineering, N1 Racing and Modena Motorsports. Being the odd one out from the three, Modena Motorsports of Wayne Shen, John Shen and Francis Tija took home third position in their #216 Renault Clio Cup after 263 laps of racing.
In the early part of the race, JC Racing’s #8 Honda Civic FD2 showed great pace, staying within the podium spot until the ninth hour of the race. Unfortunately luck was not on Aaron Lim, Chia Wing Hoong and Keifli Othman’s side this time as after 207 laps, they were forced to retire from the race due to a blown engine.
With one of the fierce opponents out of the way, W.S. Lai, K.K. Soh and Gilbert Ang of R Engineering immediately grabbed the top spot in the Sports and Touring Production having completed 269 laps in the #21 Honda Civic, followed closely by the #90 N1 Racing driven by Desmond Yee, Ong Soo Yong and Faisal Asri with 266 laps.
And a special entrant for this year’s Sepang 12 Hours would be the guys from Daytona Cars Co. with their Daytona Sportscar. Powered by a 6.0-liter V8 engine, the Australian-based team has taken on the challenge to tackle the Sepang 12 Hour race and performed quite well. Despite facing an engine issue, they manage to perform the necessary repairs and James, Ben Schoo, Kane Vereker and Hamish Hardeman went back out to the race to complete 145 laps.
