29 August 2008, BY Sepang International Circuits
The stage is all set for battle at Sepang Circuit at Asia’s Biggest Race – the 2008 Petronas Primax 3 Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race with Team Porsche Club Singapore to lead the procession of 77 cars for the start of the ninth edition of a 12-hour grueling test of man and machine.
Malaysian Super Series regular Mok Weng Sun clocked a time 2 minutes 7.1 seconds around the 5.543-km in qualifying today to help the team of Darryl O’ Young and Alexander Nicholas Davison to the top of the grid with an aggregate time of 2 minutes 8.5 seconds in a Porsche 997 RSR machine.
Mok would be joined at the front of the grid by Sven Herberger, who was fastest among the three Hong Leong Kencana Racing Team drivers that included Datuk Mokhzani Mahathir and Lars Erik Nielsen, who are the defending champions. Like their Singaporean rivals, the team is also driving a Porsche 997 RSR.
In deciding the grid, the best lap times of all three drivers are combined and then divided for an aggregate time, which would then decide the grid position and being omitted from the actual race tomorrow.
After a suspense-filled qualifying session, 77 cars from an original list of 103 entries would line up at the starting grid tomorrow behind the safety car for a thunderous rolling start to commence competition that would also stress on strategic brilliance, close teamwork and some doses of luck in topping the contest.
Empire Motorsports of Singapore with drivers Denis Lian, Ashraf Dewal and James Mitchell was fastest among the Class A for production cars above 1900cc. Dennis clocked 2 minutes 19.7 seconds to provide an aggregate time of 2 minutes 21.3 seconds.
Class B for cars between 1601cc and 1900cc was topped by a local team led by S.T. Low, who has helped the team to an aggregate time of 2 minutes 38.2 seconds. Their performance, however, was upstaged by the all-ladies team from RedBull Rookies Racing Team.
In her debut in the 12-hour endurance race, Leona Chin clocked a sensational time 2 minutes 38.407 seconds to help team-mates Phillipa Yoong and Puteri Ayu Jasmin to an aggregate time of 2 minutes 39.6 seconds and a second spot in the time sheet.
The battle for Class C for cars below 1600cc was topped by the partnership of Khairul Zaman Abdul Rahman, Perajun Krishnan and Mohamad Akmal Adekkapachi, who had an aggregate time of 2 minutes 38.859 seconds.
Top 10 Qualifiers : Sepang Circuit – 5.543km
| Pos |
Name |
Time
|
| 1 |
Mok Weng Sun Alexander Nicolas Davison, Daryl O’ Young,
(Porsche 997 RSR)
|
2:08.5s |
| 2 |
Sven Herberger Mokhzani Mahathir, & Lars Erik Nielsen
(Porsche 997 RSR) |
2:11.1s |
| 3 |
Shaun Juniper, Max Twigg, Craig Bird
(Porsche 911 GT3) |
2:11.5s |
| 4 |
Nobuteru Tanaguchi, Manabu Orido, Johanes Stuck
(BMW Z4 M) |
2.12.0s |
| 5 |
Dilantha Malagamuwa Tunku Hammam Sulong/ /Melvin Choo
(Porsche 997) |
2.12.2s |
| 6 |
Masataka Yanagida Fariqe Hairuman, , Tatsuya Kataoka
(BMW Z4M) |
2.12.9s |
| 7 |
David Wall, Barton Mower, Damien Flack
(Porsche 996-RSR) |
2.13.9s |
| 8 |
Konopka Miroslav, Chris Reindler, Markus Lungstrass
(Porsche 996 GT3) |
2:16.2s |
| 9 |
Tommy Lee Razlan Razali, , Brent Odgers
(Porsche 997) |
2.17.6s |
| 10 |
Johnson Chen, Henry Tse, Mark Chew
(Porsche 997) |
2:17.7s |
Race Schedule
| TIME |
RACE |
SESSION |
| SATURDAY, 30th AUGUST 2008 |
| 0900 hrs |
Classic Cars
|
Race 2 (10 laps) |
| 0940 hrs |
Petronas Formula Xperience |
Race 2 ( 10 laps) |
| 1100 hrs |
Pit Exit Open |
|
| 1115 hrs |
Pit Exit Close |
|
| 1135 hrs |
National Anthem |
|
| 1137 hrs |
5 minute Board |
|
| 1139 hrs |
3 minute Board |
|
| 1141 hrs |
1 minute Board |
|
| 1142 hrs |
Formation lap |
|
| 1145 hrs |
Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race Start |
|
| 2330 hrs |
Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race End |
|
| 0000 hrs |
Prize Presentation |
|
For details, contact the Press Officer Azhar Ghazali at 019 383 7865.
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