{"id":5869,"date":"2024-09-30T23:32:55","date_gmt":"2024-09-30T15:32:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klhappenings.com\/?p=5869"},"modified":"2024-09-30T23:33:34","modified_gmt":"2024-09-30T15:33:34","slug":"action-packed-round-2-of-the-toyota-gazoo-racing-vios-challenge-literally-and-metaphorically-a-thunderstorm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klhappenings.com\/?p=5869","title":{"rendered":"ACTION PACKED ROUND 2 OF THE TOYOTA GAZOO RACING VIOS CHALLENGE LITERALLY AND METAPHORICALLY A THUNDERSTORM"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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It was both literally and metaphorically a thunderstorm on track in day 2 of racing in Round 2 of the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Vios Challenge which came in form of heavy rain that delayed the start of the race and the emergence and dominance of young driver Elson Lew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Sporting Class <\/strong>for amateurs, former Rookie Class driver Lew concluded Round 2 with dominant double race wins. Driving for BAE Racing by ES Yang, Lew finished the 20-lap race around the 2.706km North Track at the Petronas Sepang International Circuit 4.8 seconds ahead of PCM Group Racing Team\u2019s Kenneth Koh and 16-year-old Thai driver Panithan Rakpaibulsombut representing RUK Team Nexzter PMC 52.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The race began with Race Rally KL\u2019s Shafiq Samsudin capitalizing on an early mistake by race leader Hiewa Racing Team\u2019s Choo Yong Choon to storm into the lead with a 2.3 second advantage. Shafiq\u2019s lead however was short lived when he was passed by Lew (who had started 6th<\/sup>) in the 8th<\/sup> lap and later had to defend against a charging Koh and Rakpaibulsombut. His race however, came to an abrupt end due to mechanical issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cComing into Round 2, I had a very good feeling. I was a bit more confident and I was fastest in both unofficial and official practices as well as qualifying. It\u2019s certainly the best weekend of racing I\u2019ve had,\u201d said the 21-year-old Lew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cRace 2\u2019s strategy was just to push hard and once I had the lead, to extend the gap as much as I could. As a driver I try to be consistent and stay focused and I guess that was what won me the races this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The start of race 2 had been delayed for 30 minutes due to a light thunderstorm and after the all clear was given to resume by Race Control, participants in the Super Sporting (for professionals and seeded drivers) and Rookie Class (for young drivers) started the 20-lap race behind the safety car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a reverse grid format, Super Sporting Class<\/strong> Race 1\u2019s winner Amer Harris started from 6th<\/sup> position, followed by Freddie Ang in 5th<\/sup>, Mitchell Cheah in 4th<\/sup>, Hayden Haikal in 3rd<\/sup>, Naquib Azlan in 2nd<\/sup> and Nabil Azlan at the head of the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With the safety car peeling off the track after three laps, Wheelcorp\u2019s Nabil wasted no time to propel himself into the lead with Axle Sports\u2019 Naquib losing track position to TD Racing\u2019s Hayden for second place. A mistake by Nabil a lap later however, let Hayden, Prima Pearl TD Racing\u2019s Cheah and Telagamas Toyota\u2019s Ang through dropping Nabil to 4th<\/sup> position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Hayden retained the lead, the battle for 2nd<\/sup> intensified between Cheah and Ang for 6 laps, and after several attempts, Ang finally managed to pass the former in pursuit of the lead. The positions remained unchanged to the chequred flag with Hayden taking victory ahead of Ang in second, and Cheah in third place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to thank everyone who made this happen\u2026it was basically trying to get used to the car over practice and qualifying. I struggled a bit in the first race but today\u2019s wet weather conditions helped me a lot. I like the rain and hopefully I will be back for Round 3,\u201d said Hayden who makes his return to the Vios Challenge after missing out on Round 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Rookie Class<\/strong>, the reverse format also placed Race 1\u2019s winner Brandon Ho at the back of the field, followed by Amirul Afiq in 5th<\/sup>, Raja Amirul Syauqat in 4th<\/sup>. Audrey leong in 3rd<\/sup>, Kingston Tan in 2nd<\/sup> and Adam Mikail in 1st<\/sup> position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With two race wins from Round 1, Adam bolted at the restart to give himself an unassailable lead to win his third race in four races so far. Finishing second was Raja Amirul while in third position was Ho.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now into its seventh year, the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Vios Challenge one-make series has seen a wave of young drivers rising to the top. This has been largely due to the series\u2019 strict format as a one-make production race that utilizes an identically-race prepared new generation Toyota Vios powered by a 1.5-litre engine with a five-speed manual transmission. Instead of outright power, drivers are tested to the limit of their driving abilities and race craft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A total of 33 drivers took to the grid for Round 2 of the Vios Challenge who included drivers from Thailand, Singapore and India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information, log on to www.toyota.com.my\/en\/tgrmalaysia<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RESULTS: ROUND 2, RACE 2<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SUPER SPORTING<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Hayden Haikal                                          TD Racing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Freddie Ang                                              Telagamas Toyota<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Mitchell Cheah                                        Prima Pearl TD Racing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SPORTING<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Elson Lew                                                  BAE Racing by ES Young<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Kenneth Koh                                            PCM Group Racing Team<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Panithan Rakpaibulsombut \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RUK Team Nexzter PMC 52.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ROOKIE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Adam Mikail<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Raja Amirul Syauqat<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Brandon Ho<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    It was both literally and metaphorically a thunderstorm on track in day 2 of racing in Round 2 of the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Vios Challenge which came in form of heavy rain that delayed the start of the race and the emergence and dominance of young driver Elson Lew. In the Sporting Class for amateurs, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[425],"tags":[1316],"class_list":["post-5869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-car-racing","tag-toyota-gazoo-racing-vios-challenge"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/klhappenings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2024-09-30-at-10.20.07_27c37f29.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klhappenings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klhappenings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klhappenings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klhappenings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klhappenings.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5869"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/klhappenings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5875,"href":"https:\/\/klhappenings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5869\/revisions\/5875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klhappenings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klhappenings.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klhappenings.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klhappenings.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}