INDUSTRY NEWS : S1K 2012 RACE
2012
SEPANG 1000 KILOMETER (S1K) RACE
PROTON
SCORES FIRST S1K CROWN PROTON R3 RACING, TWICE OVERALL WINNER OF THE PRESTIGIOUS MALAYSIA MERDEKA ENDURANCE RACE (MMER) CROWN, HAS ADDED THE SEPANG 1000 KILOMETER (S1K) CROWN AFTER ITS DRIVERS SCORED A SENSATIONAL 1-2 FINISH IN THE SHORTER ENDURANCE RACE AT SEPANG INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT ON THE 8TH OF DECEMBER 2012.
Introduced in 2009, S1K was created as a spin-off of the MMER on grounds of safety after the popularity of the 12-hour endurance grew immensely with participation of top international teams and highly-powered supercars; making it unsafe for the cars with smaller engine capacity. Proton R3 Racing won the overall crown in 2005 and 2006 in their Lotus Exige when the event was called Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race before it was rebranded in 2010 following introduction of new regulations and competition classes. At this S1K, Proton R3 Racing’s Syafiq Ali and Super GT driver Morio Nitta took their Satria Neo to victory; completing the 181-laps in 8 hours 25 minutes 6.699 seconds. What a conclusion to a memorable year for the team and Syafiq, who was crowned last month as the Malaysian Super Series (MSS) overall champion for the Malaysian Touring Car Challenge category, winning it with team-mate James Veerapan after winning four of five rounds this season. James, who partnered rookie Masedenial Ali Maskamal Khan in a Proton Prevé, took second after completing 180 laps in 8 hours 26 minutes 55.674 seconds; finishing ahead of defending champions Type R Racing Team in their Toyota Altis, which was gunning for a hat-trick after winning the inaugural race in 2009. Instead, it was the factory works team of Proton R3 Racing, which started from second place on the front grid, which celebrated victory with a grand double. First in 2009 and 2011 and second overall in 2010, Type R Racing, which boasted the awesome skills of Boy Wong Yew Choong, Lai Wee Sing and Soh Kee Koon, had to be contented with third place as they only managed 179 laps to record their worst finish in the event. Despite putting the Prevé machine to test in the competition for the first time, Veerapan and Masedenial were impressive to finish third in a field of top Malaysian drivers and two other factory works team – the Honda Malaysia Racing Team and Fawster Motorsports, which was supported by Mazda Malaysia. As in the previous three editions, the 2012 race again witnessed the lower Class 2 cars upstage their higher rivals in Class 1, which grouped cars with engines between 1601cc to 1800cc. The Class 2 cars with engines below 1600cc dominated the top 16 places.
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AAM GODRIVE • MARCH 2013 ISSUE