Round 5 of the MSF Superturismo last weekend at the Petronas Sepang International Circuit crowned four new overall champions for 2024 with one final round to contest in November.
With four race wins in five rounds held so far, Mohamed Hafez raced to his first overall title in the Vision-HKS Super Touring class.
Also crowned new champions in 2024 are Zuhaidy from FAWSTER 55TWELVE who won the Tuner Production class; Gan Kim Hoa who claims his 7th straight title alongside Hayden Haikal in the Super 1800 class; and Goon Soo in his Toyota AE86 who wins the Rear Wheel Drive 1600 class.
With the final round of the series to be contested in November, Mohamed Hafez and his dominant Toyota GR Yaris had built an unassailable lead in the overall point standings to confirm his position as champion.
“But a race is a race and the team and I will still be going all out to win the final round,” said Mohamed Hafez who was also the 2016 and 2017 Special KEI, and 2019 Super 1500 champion. He was runner-up in last year’s Super Series Unlimited class.
The road to Round 5 last weekend had been an extremely challenging one after the car encountered mechanical problems in Round 4 and subsequently suffered a small fire in the engine bay during testing ahead of Round 5.
“After Round 4 I felt the gearbox was starting to have some issues and the team decided that we would replace it before Round 5. Then on Wednesday of the race weekend during testing, we had an engine bay fire. Fortunately the fire extinguisher was able to put out the fire and we were back out for a final round of testing a day before the race. The car may have been fine but psychologically it was difficult for me. I kept recalling the fire and that had a huge impact on slowing my pace on the track,” said the 37-year-old.
Mohamed Hafez won the 40-minute + 1 lap race with a 32-second lead to give his FAWSTER 55TWELVE team another victory in the season. Starting from pole position after setting a time of 2 min: 27.617 seconds, he went on to clock the fastest time in the race with a time of 2 min: 28.971 seconds, almost a second clear of his nearest rival.
Finishing second place was the TEDCO Racing pair of Jonathan Lee and Justin Toh in a Honda DC5, while SOKUDO SHENZO RACING’s Mohd Irwan Abdoll Razak in a Honda Civic FD2R rounded up the top three.
Round 5 of the MSF Superturismo featured more than 200 drivers competing in 10 individual classes of racing with the highlight on the 6 premier classes of racing: Super Touring; Vision HKS GT86 x BRZ Racing Cup; Super Production; and Rennplatz Standard Production; Rennplatz Standard Production Max; and Super 1800.
Meanwhile, in the Vision HKS GT86 x BRZ Racing Cup, Ng Teck Ming led a 1-3 finish for RENNPLATZ Racing Team with team mate Ng Kim Ngee crossing the finish line more than a minute behind. Splitting the two and just 11 seconds adrift of Ng was the FAWSTER SMRT pair of Mohd Fahrizal Hasan and Syed Mohd Rizal.
The Rennplatz Standard Production was won by SOKUDO SHENZO RACING’s Ng Chong Chin behind the wheel of a Honda Jazz GK5 RS who finished 8.5 seconds ahead of series favourite Aiman Asyraaf and Hayden Haikal in the Piston Project Honda Fit GK5. In third was FAWSTER 55TWELVE Jordan Lee and Mohamed Hafez in a Honda Fit RS.
The pair of Pakom Sakunasinlapin and Roni Risman meanwhile, swept to victory for Piston Project in the Rennplatz Standard Production Max class. The top three winners were dominated by Suzuki with the pair finishing in dominant form, taking the chequered flag more than 3 minutes ahead of Ahmad Firdaus and Mohamad from FAWSTER 55TWELVE, with Muhammad Isyalzuddin Ishak in a Suzuki Swift Sport ZC31S finishing third.
The battle in Super 1800 was again, as expected, won by the pair of Gan Kim Koa and Hayden Haikal in the fourth generation (a car built between1987 to the 1991) #60 Honda Civic EF9. They too dominated in their class, finishing more than a minute ahead of second place winner Low Kent Jun in a Honda EG, and the pair of BP Chu and Ridhwan Kif driving Honda Civic EK3.
The Super Production class was won by Khoo Chee Yen in a Honda FIT RS whose race came right down to the finish line, taking the chequered flag just 0.9 seconds ahead of the Honda GK5 of Jonathan Xie and Mike Lee. A further 16 seconds behind and in a Honda Grace GM6 was Putera Hani Imran.
RESULTS
Rennplatz Standard Production
- Ng Chong Chin SOKUDO SHENZO RACING
- Aiman Asyraaf/Hayden Haikal Piston Project
- Jordan Lee/Mohamed Hafez FAWSTER 55TWELVE
Rennplatz Standard Production Max
- Pakom Sakunasinlapin/Roni Risman Piston Project
- Ahmad Firdaus/Mohamad FAWSTER 55TWELVE
- Muhammad Isyalzuddin Ishak
Vision HKS Super Touring
- Mohamed Hafez FAWSTER 55TWELVE
- Jonathan Lee/Justin Toh TEDCO Racing
- Mohd Irwan Abdoll Razak SOKUDO SHENZO RACING
Vision HKS GT86 x BRZ Racing Cup
- Ng Teck Ming RENNPLATZ Racing Team
- Mohd Fahrizal Hasan/Syed Mohd Rizal FAWSTER SMRT
- Ng Kim Ngee RENNPLATZ Racing Team
Super 1800
- Gan Kim Koa/Hayden Haikal
- Low Kent Jun
- BP Chu/Ridhwan Kif
Super Production
- Khoo Chee Yen
- Jonathan Xie/Mike Lee
- Putera Hani Imran
