2021 TOYOTA GAZOO RACING Night Race – The Race Has Ended

The fourth season of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Festival and Vios Challenge racing series concluded with excitement and on-track drama from the beginning of the race to the finishing event, crowning four overall class champions.

Intense and full of thrilling action during the season’s final race at Sepang International Circuit, where three racers battled to win the overall championship title in four categories – Super Sporting Class, Sporting Class, Promotional, and Rookie Class.

Super Sporting Class for elite drivers was racked up by Malaysia’s prince of drift, who is also the Ambassador of TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Malaysia Tengku Djan Ley Tengku Mahaleel, by winning his third overall championship. Meanwhile, Clement Yeo from team Distinctive Model charged his first overall title in the Sporting Class for amateur drivers.

After four racing seasons, actor Shukri Yahaya finally sealed his first overall title in the Promotional Class. Atlas, young Simulator racer Naquib Azlan was crowned the first-ever overall champion in the rookie class.

Minister of Youth & Sports Yang Berhormat Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu also came to the finale and met with young drivers competing in the Rookie Class and celebrities racing in the Promotional Class as presented prizes to the overall champions.

YB Dato’ Seri Ahmad Faizal commended UMW Toyota Motor’s involvement in Malaysian motorsports, saying it amplified how corporate involvement can contribute significantly towards revitalising and injecting greater excitement in the sport.

SPORTING CLASS

A bit of night drama occurred during Race 1, where Ady Rahimy ran away with the race from pole position, finishing 12.3 seconds ahead of Bradley Benedict Anthony and Dannies Ng, which later handed a one-position penalty.

“Racing at night is more chilling with lower temperatures, and I tend to be a lot more patient and comfortable,” said Ng, who started from the 12th position to run a calm and collected race into the third position.

Bradley won the first night race, while Ady placed second and Ng in the third position.

The second night race began in dramatic display with six cars involved in skirmishes from the first lap of the race due to a wet track.

From fifth on the grid, Clement Yeo started the race by keeping up a close race with Panglima City Racing Team driver Kenneth Koh until eventually letting him pass-through for the win.

Those battling for third, fourth and fifth positions had a fierce battle which saw Ady being thrown off the track for the first time, followed by Team Fokus Tetap’s Lim Chun Beng and subsequently Datuk Ken Foo, A. Shanmuganathan, Eric Yong and Amirul Haikal.

A safety car was deployed after six laps into the 20-lap race. After the race resumed, Bradley Benedict Anthony and Ady, who were trading places for third place, caught everyone's attention.

The rest of the race was evenly paced by Yeo, but Bradley again stole the show when he overtook Koh for second place.

Yeo's victory in the race clinched his position as the Sports Class's overall champion, which comes with a prize of RM50,000.

PROMOTIONAL CLASS

One of the highlights during Race 1 was a sensational moment for the Promotional Class where there was an incident when Zizan Razak overtook Shukri Yahaya to win. However, Zizan was served with a five-second penalty by officials for exceeding track limits, which immediately took him back to second place, with Takeyama rounding up the top three.

“I did my best to get away from Zizan as the battle behind me took place, but in the later part of the race, I began to notice him coming back even stronger. It was a good fight to the finish, and it was unfortunate that there was a penalty involved, but that’s racing,” said Shukri.

For race 1, Shukri championed the race, followed by Zizan and then Akio Takeyama.

There was intense competition between actors Shukri and Zizan, targeting the overall prize. On the second night race, full of rage, Zizan took the lead, with Shukri close behind and Khai Bahar was in third following up closely.

The race position for the first five-lap race was maintained until Zizan went wide, allowing Shukri to snatch the top spot with Khai Bahar placed at second.

At the chequered flag, Shukri was just ahead by just 0.3 seconds.  

While Shukri lost the race to Khai because of a penalty, Shukri’s points accumulated throughout the season were sufficient for him to claim the overall championship title in the Promotional Class.

SUPER SPORTING CLASS

Meanwhile, for the Super Sporting Class, Tengku Djan Ley Tengku Mahaleel rose from tenth on the grid to finish third, the biggest gainer of the race.

Top three drivers for Super Sporting Class Race 1 championed by Telagamas Toyota’s Freddie Ang, Laser Motor Racing’s Mark Darwin, and Prime Pearl Auto’s Tengku Djan.

During the battle of professionals Race 2, Mitchell Cheah won the 20-lap race, followed by Prime Pearl Auto’s Tengku Djan Ley and Telagamas Toyota’s Ang in third place at first.

However, a post-race penalty against Cheah has made Tengku Djan become the new champion of the Super Sporting Class.

“There was tremendous pressure going into tonight’s finale with so much being at stake, but I told myself that I needed to run a smart race,” said Tengku Djan, who sealed his third Super Sporting Class overall championship title to win a prize of RM70,000.

ROOKIE CLASS

The battle of the young racers has gotten 14-year-old Putera Adam to win the 20-lap race at 1.3 seconds ahead of Jwan Hii and followed by Naquib Azlan during Race 1.

Shockingly, during Race 2 of the season finale, Naquib Azlan wins the race, having participated in a saloon car race with only experience drawn from competing as a simulator racer.

Overall, the two-day night race was incredible. Caricarz enjoyed the racing event held at Sepang International Circuit and was thrilled to watch racers from various backgrounds stalling their Toyota Vios engine during the event. Awesome!