SEPANG, 22 June 2026 — A weekend of furious race action filled with numerous on-track drama punctuated an exciting Round 2 of the Toyota GAZOO Racing Vios Challenge last weekend.
In hot and blistering conditions at the Petronas Sepang International Circuit South Track, a total of 37 entries engaged in close quarter battles across three competitive divisions: the Super Sporting for elite drivers, Sporting for amateurs and Rookie Classes for young drivers. An additional 14 entries comprising 25 drivers taking part in the Classic Challenge made for an even more exhilarating battle on track witnessed by some 618,000 viewers via live stream.
SUPER SPORTING CLASS
Competition involving the professional and eliter drivers in the Super Sporting Class was intense as expected with former champion (2024) Mitchell Cheah taking a hard-earned victory ahead of pole-sitter Nabil Azlan in Race 1.
Nabil of Laser Motor Racing got off the starting line on point and went on to lead for 16 laps before Cheah in the #61 Team Prima Pearl SP Selatan Vios climbed from 7th on the grid to challenge for the lead in the closing stages of the 30-minute race. Finishing 3rd was Bradley Benedict Anthony.
“It’s great to be back on top! It’s been a while,” said Cheah. “We still have a long way to go before the championship is decided but we’re feeling a lot better with the car this weekend and hopefully we can carry this momentum moving forward.”
Race 2 however, unveiled a very different story as Cheah finished 8th, more than 11 seconds off the race winner.
In Race 2, it was S&D Tama Motorsports’ Tom Goh who sprinted into an early lead from pole position with a marginal 0.7-second gap ahead of Bradley Benedict Anthony but the mistake of going too wide in lap 4 promoted the latter into the lead with Toyotsu Racing’s William Ho creeping into 2nd position. Ho had tremendous momentum to continue his charge and by the next immediate lap blasted past Bradley to become the new race leader.
Ho’s battle with Bradley went right to the penultimate lap, with 2.5 seconds separating the two until the latter unexpectedly dropped to 4th in the very last lap to give up 2nd position to Laser Motor Racing’s Nabil Azlan – his second podium finish of the race weekend – while 3rd went to team mate Ady Rahimy.
The biggest casualty of the race weekend however, was overall championship leader and defending Super Sporting Class champion Freddie Ang who was handed a 30-second penalty in Race 1 and finished 6th in Race 2.
SPORTING CLASS
Race 1 was entirely dominated by the foreign drivers competing in the Vios Challenge, with Thailand’s Varunchit Wattanathanakun from RUK Team PMC 52, finishing ahead of Hong Huat X Armada KK Racing’s Elson Lew. In 3rd place was India’s Aditya Patnaik driving for Axle Sports.
Wattanathanakun had a good start from 3rd position on the grid to immediately jump into the lead of the race which would see him extending his gap from 1.3 seconds to 11.2 seconds by the time he claimed the chequered flag.
His lead remained practically unchallenged throughout the race as Lew had to fend off a charging Ariff Azmi of KMS 333 Motorsports and Patnaik who were eager for the remaining two positions on the podium.
Ariff and Lew traded places for 2nd position in the 13th and 16th laps before a mechanical issue forced the former to park his Vios on the runoff area. Ariff’s misfortunes promoted Patnaik to 3rd but with 1 lap remaining and despite being ½ a car’s length behind, could not find a way past Lew.
“It’s great to be racing in Malaysia. The driving standards are incredibly higher here and it is a solid training ground for my development as a driver back in Thailand,” said Varunchit who is into his second year competing in the Vios Challenge.
Race 2 on Sunday was won by G-Mart Best Autosport’s Adam Mikail who won 3 seconds ahead of BAE Racing by ES Yang’s Justin Toh. Finishing 3rd was Saksama Motorsports’ Taj Aiman
ROOKIE CLASS
In Race 1, Imran Iskandar rallied to his first race win after two consecutive 2nd place finishes in Round 1. The 17-year-old simulator and saloon car racer took the chequered flag from pole position, running away with the lead to finish ahead of 16-year-old simulator racer Ethen Low who finished on the podium for the very first time making his debut. Low had to sit out Round 1 until he turned 16 two weeks ago and was granted a national racing license. In 3rd place, was 20-year-old Ngo Yong Jian who is a simulator racer and track day enthusiast.
“Honestly, it feels great to be on the top step of the podium after finishing 2nd twice. I certainly feel a lot more confident coming into Round 2 and now the overall championship is certainly shaping to be a very tough one,” said Imran.
“Moving forward, I forsee the championship being very close – not only due to my fellow Rookie drivers, but also with the race format of success ballast and reverse grid format – but I’m not going to stop trying my best.”
The Rookie Class comprises of drivers who graduate from the GAZOO Racing Malaysia Young Talent Development Program, now into its 6th successive year, that is designed to provide talented young drivers transitioning from simulator racing and karting into saloon car racing.
In Race 2, it was Low’s turn to take the race win to cap off a victorious race weekend on his racing debut. He had finished 2nd in Race 1 for two consecutive podiums. Ervin Lim claimed 2nd with Imran Iskandar rounding up the top three.
“I could not have asked for a better race debut. I would like to thank UMW Toyota Motor, GAZOO Racing Malaysia and my coaches for making this all possible and I look forward to repeating and improving on this performance in the coming two rounds.,” said Low.
CLASSIC CHALLENGE
The most dramatic moments during the racing weekend unfolded in Race 1 of the Classic Challenge where the safety car had to be deployed twice over the course of the one-hour race.
As competitors jostled for positions in the opening laps, Aylezo Motorsport’s #64 driven by Harkiesh Geeva flipped in the gravel going into Turn 1 of Lap 2 after a shunt from behind. Harkiesh was uninjured in the incident but the car was too badly damaged to be repaired in time for Race 2.
Then in the closing stages of the race, the #44 car of Rock Racing driven by Nurul Husna was sent sideways into the concrete barrier along the main straight following another contact.
The race was won by Kegani Racing Academy’s Loke Yin Yi and Kenny Lee who finished 3.2 seconds ahead of brothers Brendan Paul and Bradley Benedict Anthony, while in 3rd place was the pair from Thailand, Mekkaradkeeta Kalantananda/Varunchit Wattanathanakun representing RUKTeam PMC 52.
“We started from 4th position on the grid and slowly improved our position to 3rd before I came in for the mandatory pitstop to hand over the driving duties to Lee. We managed muster good pace throughout the weekend and I was confident of the team’s strategy, and with Lee at the wheel for the second stint, we could bridge the gap with the top two cars. We chose to pit first ahead of the leaders and that was a critical decision that would give us just what we needed to get ahead and lead with a minimal gap right to the chequered flag.” Said Yi.
Victory in Race 1 and then 2nd place in Race 2 proved to be retribution for Lee and Yi who had to earlier settle for two 2nd places in Round 1.
In Race 2, the 91R Racing pair of Mohamad Anaqi and Mohamad Hariry came all the way from 7th on the grid to lead the first 30 laps of the race, building a gap of more than 8 seconds until the safety car was deployed with just 12 minutes to go.
That situation essentially reduced the remaining minutes of the race into an intense sprint race with the all-brothers team of Bradley Benedict and Brenda Paul Anthony seizing the race lead at the restart. Within a lap, Mohamad Anaqi and Mohamad Hariry was pushed all the way to 7th again as the battle up front shaped into a three-way fight involving Bradley Benedict/Brendan Paul, Kegani Racing Academy’s Kenny Lee and Loke Yin Yi, and Kenneth Koh/Lim Yoong Kit.
Bradley Benedict held it all together against an extremely relentless challenge in the last two laps to take a well-deserved race victory just a car’s length ahead of Kenny Lee, with the Thai pair of Mekkaradkeeta Kalantananda and Varunchit Wattanathanakun from RUKTeam PMC 52 claiming their second consecutive 3rd place finish of the weekend.
Season 9 of the Vios Challenge (first introduced in 2017) is putting up a total of RM876,000 in total prize monies over four individual rounds as it solidifies its position as the longest running production-based saloon car race series organized by a manufacturer.
Round 3 will continue at the Petronas Sepang International Circuit from 25-26 July with competitors taking on the entire 5.543km length of the track.
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RESULTS, VIOS CHALLENGE SEASON 9, ROUND 2 (20-21 JUNE 2026)
RACE 1
1. Mitchell Cheah Team Prima Pearl SP Selatan
2. Nabil Azlan Laser Motor Racing
3. Bradley Benedict Anthony
SPORTING
1. Varunchit Wattanathanakun RUKTeam PMC 52
2. Elson Lew Hong Huat X Armada KK Racing
3. Aditya Patnaik Axle Sports
ROOKIE
1. Imran Iskandar
2. Ethen Low
3. Ngo Yong Jian
CLASSIC CHALLENGE
1. Loke Yin Yi/Kenny Lee Kegani Racing Academy
2. Brendan Paul/Bradley Benedict
3. Mekkaradkeeta Kalantananda/Varunchit Wattanathanakun RUKTeam PMC 52
RACE 2
SUPER SPORTING
1. William Ho Toyotsu Racing
2. Nabil Azlan Laser Motor Racing
3. Ady Rahimy Laser Motor Racing
SPORTING
1. Adam Mikail G-Mart Best Autosport
2. Justin Toh BAE Racing by ES Yang
3. Taj Aiman Saksama Motorsports
ROOKIE
1. Ethen Low
2. Ervin Lim
3. Imran Iskandar
CLASSIC CHALLENGE
1. Bradley Benedict/Brendan Paul Anthony
2. Loke Yin Yi/Kenny Lee Kegani Racing Academy
3. Mekkaradkeeta Kalantananda/Varunchit Wattanathanakun RUKTeam PMC 52
