After 12 hours of hard racing, the 2013 Malaysia Merdeka Endurance Race finally came to an end; which at the same time properly displays the harsh reality of racing. But first things first, we would like to congratulate Singaporean Mok Weng Sun from team Clearwater Racing for taking the win in the Ferrari 458 Italia GT3, ending the domination of Petronas Syntium Team who had been winning the race two years in a row.
Teaming up with Australian Craig Baird and Hiroshi Hamaguchi from Japan, the Singaporean-based team took the checkered flag after hurdling through all the challenges and completing a record-breaking 323 laps in their Italian race machine. The previous lap record was set by Petronas Syntium’s Dominic Ang, Nobuteru Taniguchi and Masataka Yanagida at 321 laps back in 2011.
“Sincerely, I must say that I am very surprised. After qualifying yesterday, we know that we are up against very, very top rivals and know that it would be very difficult. Hence, the mission was a podium finish. Anything else will be a bonus”, said Mok.
However, this year’s MMER does not seem to be siding with Petronas Syntium Team as both #1 and #28 Mercedes SLS AMG GT3s had to retire from the race. The #28 machine with Thomas Jäger, Lucas Wolf and Luca Ludwig behind the wheels retired halfway throughout the race after 101 laps, while the #1 car piloted by Bernd Schneider, Jono Lester and Dominic Ang retired after 218 laps. Both were forced to retire due to mechanical failure.
In the new GT Cup category, former F1 driver Alex Yoong led the assault for team Tiger Absolute Racing in the Audi R8 LMS Cup taking the class win and finished eighth overall. Driving alongside with former Malaysian equestrian champion Ashraff Dewal and Jacky Yeung from Hong Kong, they managed to complete 303 laps.
Mike Racing took the win for the Sports Production class in their Aston Martin Vantage GT4 after completing 272 laps. Driven by Michael Chua, Joseph Chua and Rick Cheang, the trio finished 11th overall.
The Touring Production saw a very dramatic finish, where Thailand’s five-driver line up of Shuipang Kanjanapas, Kantadhlee Kusir, Anothai Eamlumnow, Peeraphong Eamlumnow and Kantasak Kusiri crossing the finish line after the class leader from JC Racing of Eric Yeo, Keifli Othman and Aaron Lim was forced to retire from the race on the second last lap.
Overall, from all the 34 entrants, only 22 managed to survive the ordeal and cross the finish line on the 12th hour.
Top 10 Finishers
1.Mok Weng Sun/Hiroshi Hamaguchi/Craig Baird (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) 323 laps
2. Roger Lago/David Russell/Peter Kox (Lamborghini LP560-4) 317 laps
3. Mika Salo/Pasin Lathauras/Michele Rugolo (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) 316 laps
4. Adrian D’Silva/Earl Bamber/Alif Hamdan (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) 316 laps
5. Darryl O’Young/Vuthikorn Intharaphuvasak/Siu Yuk Lung (Porsche GT3R) 314 laps
6. Katmusasa Chiyo/Wolfgang Reip/Mark Shulzhitskiy (Nissan GTR Nismo GT3) 308 laps
7. Jeffrey Lee/Marchy Lee/Adderly Fong (Audi R8 LMS Ultra) 306 laps
8. Jacky Yeung/Alex Yoong/Ashraff Dewal (Audi R8 LMS Cup) 303 laps
9. Frank Yu/Alain Jacques Gilbert Li/Richard Lyons (Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT3) 281 laps
10. Ren Wei/Sun Bo/Yang Xi/Wu Zhou (Audi R8 LMS Cup) 275 laps
Class Finishes
GT3
1 – #7 Clearwater Racing Ferrari (M.S. Mok/ H. Hamaguchi/ Craig Braid) 323 Laps
2 – #23 Lago Racing Lamborghini (Roger Lago/ David Russell/ Peter Kox) 317 Laps
3 – #3 AF Corse Ferrari (Pasin Lathouras/ Mika Salo/ Michele Rugolo) 316 Laps
GT Cup
1 – #66 Tiger Absolute Racing Audi R8 (Jacky Yeung/ Alex Yoong/ Ashraff Dewal) 303 Laps
2 – #5 BRT Audi R8 (Ren Wei/ Sun Bo/ Yang Xi/ He Yi/ Wu Zhou) 275 Laps
3 – #077 ARC Bralislava Porsche (Miro Konopka/ C.Kranenberg/ Daniel Bilski) 237 Laps
Sports Production
1 – #96 Mike Racing AM Vantage (Michael Chua/ Joseph Chua/ Rick Cheang) 272 Laps
2 – #53 Fawster Motorsports (Faidzil Alang/ M.Nazir/ M.Ridzwan/ Khairul Anwar) 258 Laps
3 – #6 PainKiller-Singha-Camper-Panus AM Vantage (Naputt Assakul/ Rudolf Man/ Umar A Rahman) 136 Laps
Touring Production
1 – #60 PainKiller-Singha-Camper-Panus Honda Civic (S.Kanjanapas/K.Kusir/ A.Eamlumnow/P.Eamlumnow/Kusiri) 267 Laps
2 – #55 N1 Racing Team Honda Civic (Hsiao Tung Wei/ Eric Lo/ Badrul Hisham) 263 Laps
3 – #44 Team ST Powered Honda Civic (Mike Teh/ Arthur Ong/ Ben Oh) 262 Laps
