The Malaysian Super Series (MSS) has just received a major shot in the arm as it will now be a support race for the 2011 Formula One Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix in April. This was made possible due to the efforts of Sepang International Circuit (SIC) who managed to reach an agreement with the F1 license holder, Formula One Management (FOM).
“I am proud to announce that our MSS will be the support race for this year’s Formula 1 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix. This is indeed an honour for us at SIC, a firm recognition for the MSS and a strong boost to the development of Malaysian motorsports,” said SIC Chief Executive Officer Datuk Ahmad Razlan Ahmad Razali.
Celebrating its 10 year anniversary, the MSS was the brainchild of former SIC chairman Tan Sri Basir Ismail to provide a more competitive avenue of motorsports for the Malaysians as well as to unearth new talent and draw in a larger audience to the circuit.
While this would be the first opportunity for the drivers to share the track with their F1 counterparts, the two-wheeled version has had this privilege for the past five seasons as the MSS bike races have been supporting the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix. Nonetheless, the MSS car races were incorporated into the Super GT International Series and the now defunct A1GP.
This year will see a drastic change in the format of the car races in the MSS with the exclusion of the Supersixteen and 2000cc Supersaloon classes that will be replaced by the Malaysian GT, GT Class, Sports Production and Touring classes respectively. There will also be a Malaysian Touring Car category that will be split into Class1 and Class 2.
“As a racing driver, I know how difficult it is to organize a racing series in Malaysia after the ban on tobacco advertising. MSS was created after that ban and I remember how happy we were when SIC started the series,” said Boy Wong Yew Choong, the most successful driver in the MSS.
“For this year, my Type R Racing Team would be competing in the Touring Production Championship with our Honda FD2 cars. Hopefully, we can be as successful as in the Supersixteen and Supersaloon Championship,” said Boy, who would have 2007 Supersaloon Champion Soh Kee Koon in the other car.
