Roy Tang Wins Incident-Filled Race 2

For Immediate Release

 

Sunday, 25 August 2019 - Singaporean youngster Roy Tang won an incident-filled Race 2 of the Malaysia Championship Series (MCS) fourth round at Sepang International Circuit (SIC) today, which was headlined by a dramatic incident which saw the two championship contenders going out on the opening lap on the front straight.

 

Blasting off from a rolling start after the starting lights turned green, Desmond Soh of ST Wangan Racing Team appeared to lose control of his Mercedes AMG A45 and hit fellow Touring Production challenger Farouk Abdul Kathir before swerving to the right and crashing into his championship rival and Race 1 winner, Mark Darwin, pushing his Honda FD2 R machine into the guard rail before bouncing back to the centre of the track.

 

That brought in the Safety Car and for the next four laps, the remaining drivers proceeded their race under the safety; with Lai Wee Sing, who retired early in yesterday’s Race 1, at the tail end of some 40 cars and Roy at the front of the parade. With the three cars out and Jonathan Xie joining them later with tyre problem, it was the battle between Roy and Lai for the top honours in the Touring Production class.

 

Passing passed his rivals one by one, Lai continued his climb on the time sheet; and with seven minutes remaining of the one-hour endurance contest, the R-Engineering team owner was six seconds behind Roy, who was driving consistency at the front. As the minutes continued to diminished, Lai’s sensational charge eventually came to no avail; as he finished 0.973 seconds to be satisfied with second place.

 

“I just need one more lap. I was pushing and pushing; but was too far behind at the start of the race. With the safety car situation, I can only wait and wait,” said Lai, who suggested a change in the starting format with the classes be spread further apart like what is practiced in Super GT races where the GT500 and GT500 formed two different starting blocks.

 

Commenting on his win, Roy said: “It was a good race for me and the team; and I would like to thank SR Team and Loon Power. But, it was a misfortunate start. I hope that all the drivers are OK and there’s no injury.”

 

In the M-Production class, Proton R3 Motorsports would have mixed feelings in the outcome of Race 2; with top leading pair Fariqe Hairuman and Syafiq Ali scoring their second win for the weekend in their Proton Iriz while team-mate Mitchell Cheah being handed a disqualification. Putting his Suprima S machine closely behind the Iriz throughout the race, Mitchell was faulted for ending the challenge of title challenger Leona Chin, who partnered Eddie Lew for Round 4. Coming off Turn 15, Eddie passed Mitchell, but the young Malaysian, in fighting back for position, touched the back of the Suzuki Swift and caused to spin and skidded into the guard rail.

 

With the victory, Fariqe and Syafiq added another 15 points to their championship tally; taking their total haul to 83 points with two more races to go and a maximum of 30 championship points on the table. Leona, who drives for Tedco Racing, remained with 65 points and faces a mountainous task to pen herself as the first lady champion of the MCS.

 

After a disastrous Race 1 yesterday, SIC Talent Development Programme driver, Ady Rahimy Rashid, who was penalized for pitting outside the compulsory pit window period, won the S-Production 2 class for Race 2 today; completing 19 laps in the one-hour endurance contest. Race 1 winner, Mohamed Hafez took second with 15-year old Mohamad Hayden Mohamad Haikal completing the podium. Competing in the same S-Production 2 class, actress Faye Kusairi, who partnered Dato’ Nazri Said, finished 17th in class.

 

In the S-Production 1 class, the Japanese partnership of Ken Urata and Masahiko Ida scored their second win for the weekend; with Sarawakian partnership of Baron Sim and Tony Teo taking second place and an Indian-Bangladesh partnership of Anmol Singh and Tauhid Anwar completing the podium for the class.

 

All the races including actions from TCSA by IMPP Series, Asian Formula Renault, Asian Classic Car Challenge and the F4 SEA Championship was telecast live via livestreaming on SIC’s Facebook.

 

Today’s fantastic race sets up an interesting final round, which will be held from September 27 to 29 in Sepang.

 

Results

 

Malaysia Championship Series – Round 4

 

Race 2 – Top Three Finishers

 

T-Production class

  1. Roy Tang (Honda FD2R) - 20 laps (1:00:23.262s)
  2. Lai Wee Sing (Honda FD2R) – 20 laps
  3. Darren Ong / Kevin Kwee (Mercedes AMG A45) – 20 laps

S-Production 1 Class

  1. Ken Urata / Masahiko Ida (Honda Civic FD2) - 20 laps (1:00:50.394s)
  2. Baron Sim/ Tony Teo (Honda Civic FD2 R) – 20 laps
  3. Tauhid Anwar / Anmol Singh (Honda FD2 R) – 20 laps

M-Production Class

  1. Fariqe Hairuman / Syafiq Ali (Proton Iriz) - 20 laps (1:02:33.211s)
  2. Steve Toh / Mitchell Gilbert (Suzuki Swift) – 20 laps
  3. Admi Shahrul (Proton Saga) - 20 laps

S-Production 2 Class

  1. Ady Rahimy Rashid (Suzuki Swift) - 19 laps (1:01:42.914s)
  2. Mohamed Hafez (Honda Jazz) – 19 laps
  3. Mohamad Hayden Mohamad Haikal (Suzuki Swift) – 19 laps

 

For more information, please contact SIC National Press Officer Nor Lina Ayob at norlina.ayob@sepangcircuit.com