Toyota Gazoo Racing Malaysia wins the Sepang 1000KM endurance race

KUALA LUMPUR: The Sepang 1,000 km endurance race is one of the prominent local motorsports events that attracts several amateurs and professional racers every year. The 14th edition of the event took place last weekend at the Sepang International Circuit, where Toyota Gazoo Racing Malaysia really scored big. 

The Toyota team grabbed a historic 1-2 victory with a total of three Toyota entries finishing in the overall top five positions of the endurance race and the MTC (Malaysian Touring Car) class. Toyota was one of the 77 participants which ran in the nine-hour or 181 laps race and it is amazing that this was the TGR’s second year of participation.

The winners of the Sepang 1,000 km endurance race (overall & MTC class) are as follows -

Position	Winners	Model
I	Toyota GAZOO Racing Malaysia Tengku Djan Ley/Naquib Azlan	#37 Vios
II	Wing Hin Motorsports Hayden Haikal/Jwan Hii	#39 Yaris
III	Hi Rev Dream Chaser Mitchell Cheah/Brendan Paul Anthony	Suzuki Swift
IV	Wing Hin Motorsports Boy Wong/Dannies Ng	#38 Yaris
V	R Engineering HMRT Lee Wee Siong / Leon Khoo Beng Koon	Honda City

While commenting on the team’s win, UMW Toyota Motor President Ravindran K. said, “2021’s was all about learning and gaining track time to develop both the Vios and Yaris to take  on the prestigious 1000KM challenge. We had an extensive program in place as well as competitive  cars, and we went on to win the race but we had to accept a penalty which classified us third in  the MTC Class. Going on to win the race this year and doing it in the manner where we not only  led from start to finish but had three cars in the top five positions overall more than makes up for  that setback.” 

The event also featured the GAZOO Racing Vios Enduro Cup, exclusively contested between 14 Toyota Vios cars competing in the Vios Challenge race series. It offered a total price money of RM 30,000 to the winners, including -

Position	Winners	Prize money
I	23 Motors Al Farouk/Abdul Miqail	RM 10,000
II	23 Motors Ady Rahimy/Amir Husin Mubarak	RM 8,000
III	Carroof Motorsport Mirza Syahmi Mahzan/ Aiman Haziq/ Khair Nur  Adi/Khair Nur Adli	RM 6,000
IV	Axle Sports Alister Yoong/Mikko Nassi/Rich Pham	RM 4,000
V	Race Rally KL Shafiq Samsudin/Ahmad Nadzrie/Shasha/Kelvin Yap	RM 2,000

According to Ravindran, “Toyota’s involvement in Malaysian motorsports has more importantly contributed to helping uncover and groom many new young driving talents.” 

“It’s about giving back to the community and in our case it means providing potential young  Malaysian talent with the right platform and the opportunities to grow as competitive drivers. This  has been consistent throughout GAZOO Racing Malaysia’s program over the past five years which began with affordable participation in the Vios Challenge, the introduction of a Young Talent  Development Program, and establishing a Rookie Class of racing in the Vios Challenge to  promoting young drivers up the motorsports ladder to drive in more competitive machines and  classes. I also want to thank our partners and sponsors for playing an instrumental part in the  company’s racing achievements.” 

Also read: Next-gen Toyota Innova: What’s on offer