Under bright sunshine and a crowded field of 48 cars, defending champion Mark Darwin kept his cool t

Saturday, 24 August 2019- Under bright sunshine and a crowded field of 48 cars, defending champion Mark Darwin kept his cool to comfortably win the opening race of Round 4 in the Malaysia Championship Series (MCS) at Sepang International Circuit (SIC) to keep his championship hopes alive.

 

Starting from pole position, Darwin lost his lead in the opening lap to current championship leader Teh Kian Boon and Desmond Soh, whom had a better start in their Mercedes AMG A45. Fighting his way back, Darwin, who was driving a Honda Civic FD2 R, was bumped from behind as all the competing cars rushed for the holeshot at the first.

 

“Truthfully, it was a very difficult start. It was a crowded start. After getting bumped from behind, I just told myself to keep my cool; and that was what I did. Only on midway through the first lap, I started my move and on Lap 2, I manage to take over the lead. Getting that advantage, I just pushed to open the gap. Thanks to the team, I have a very fast paced car and everything just went well for us,” said Darwin, who finished the one-hour endurance race with 21 laps and 17.970s seconds ahead of second-placed Jonathan Xie.

 

The Singaporean partnership of Teh and Desmond of ST Wangan Racing Team took third place and 10 championship points; to take their total haul for the season to 69 points; against Darwin’s haul of 60 points with three more races to go including Race 2 for the Round tomorrow.

 

In the M-Production class, Leona Chin lost her championship lead after only managing to finish third today with new partner, Eddie Lew despite fighting hard against her main challengers from Proton R3 Motorsports. The ‘dream partnership’ of Fariqe Hairuman and Syafiq Ali took first with team-mate Mitchell Cheah taking second place as the three cars were only separated by seconds at the finishing line.

 

“It was a very hard race today. We had a three-way fight from the start actually. After taking over from Fariqe, I just drove the race of my life to defend my position against Mitchell, who was on a faster Suprima S machine and Leona, who was on a very fast Suzuki Swift. I am happy that we manage to pull this victory and now taking over the championship lead. Hopefully, we can maintain this winning momentum tomorrow,” said Syafiq, who now has 68 points against Leona’s 65 points.

 

S-Production 1 class was topped by the Japanese partnership of Ken Urata and Masahiko Ida of RWORKS with Malaysian Brendan Paul taking second place in his Honda Civic FD2 machine. The S-Production 2 class was won by Mohamed Hafez of R Engineering, who completed 19 laps in his Honda Jazz machine.

 

Race 2 would be held at 1.45pm tomorrow along with actions in the TCSA by IMPP Series, Asian Formula Renault, two races in the Asia Classic Car Challenge and the F4 SEA Championship.

 

Fans can catch all the actions live at the circuit from the K1 Grandstand open to public. Alternatively, fans can catch the actions live on social media via livestreaming on SIC Facebook.

 

Results

 

Malaysia Championship Series – Round 4

 

Race 1 – Top Five Finishers

 

T-Production class

 

1.Mark Darwin (Honda Civic FD2 R) - 21 laps (1:00:10.629s)
2. Jonathan Xie (Honda Civic FD2) – 21 laps
3. Teh Kian Boon / Desmond Soh (Mercedes AMG A45) – 21 laps
4. Abdul Kaathir (Honda Cvic FD2 R) – 21 laps
5. Darren Ong / Kevin Kwee (Mercedes AMG A45) – 21 laps

 

S-Production 1 class

 

1.Ken Urata / Masahiko Ida (Honda Civic FD2) - 21 laps (1:01:18.109s)
2. Brendan Paul (Honda Civic FD2) – 21 laps
3. Ahmad Tarmizi / Ahmad Tarmini (Honda Civic FD2) – 21 laps
4. Leon Khoo / Alex Brown (Honda Civic FD2 R) – 21 laps
5. Baron Sim/ Tony Teo (Honda Civic FD2 R) – 21 laps

 

M-Production class

 

1.Fariqe Hairuman / Syafiq Ali (Proton Iriz) - 20 laps (1:01:07.466s)
2. Mitchell Cheah (Proton Suprima S) – 20 laps
3. Leona Chin / Eddie Lew (Suzuki Swift) – 20 laps
4. Admi Shahrul (Proton Saga) – 20 laps
5. Steve Toh/ Mitchell Gilbert (Suzuki Swift) – 20 laps

 

S-Production 2 class

 

1.Mohamed Hafez (Honda Jazz) - 19 laps (1:00:54.022s)
2. William Chong / Takashi Ito (Suzuki Swift) – 19 laps
3. Mohamad Hayden Mohamad Haikal (Suzuki Swift) – 19 laps
4. Lo Kai Fung / Allan Tam (Honda Fit) – 19 laps
5. Keifli Othman / Syahrizal Jamaluddin (Honda Jazz) – 19 laps

 

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