Toyota Gazoo Racing Season 5 Round 1: More Intense Than Usual!

The first round of the Toyota Gazoo Racing and Vios Challenge festival (March 19-20) ended yesterday with a variety of unforgettable events. The determination of all racers, whether young or experienced drivers to get to the top position makes the race more intense and challenging.

As in previous seasons, four categories were listed, namely Super Sporting, Sporting, Rookie and Promotional with a total prize of more than RM1 million.

Super Sporting Class

Race 1

In the Super Sporting category, 17 -year -old Hayden Haikal managed to take first place leaving Freddie Ang with a time 0.264 seconds faster. Eddie Lew was in third place.

At the start of the race, Boy Wong was in second place, behind Hayden before he was successfully overtaken on the second lap. Soon after, Hayden was pushed by Mitchell Cheah to drop one position.

Luck was on Hayden's side as Cheah who was trying to overtake Boy Wong had collided until the two racers involved slipped out during the final bend of the sixth lap. This collision caused both Vios to break down and opened space for Hayden to be in first place.

Race 2

For the second round of Super Sporting, first place was successfully held by Eddie Lew followed by Mitchell Cheah with 5.580 seconds. The third podium position was taken by Freddie Ang.

The exciting incident of this race happened during the fourth lap. The accident happened during a fierce rivalry between Fariqe, Hayden and Ady Rahimi. The accident opened ways for Mitchell Cheah who started from the final box to overtake the other riders until he climbed to third place. Mitchell was followed by Freddie Ang from behind

On the 17th lap the distance between Mitchell and Eddie was getting closer, and at the same time Mitchell could feel the car's tires start to be ripped out and had to slow down to give room for Eddie Lew to be in front. Meanwhile, Freddie Ang was able to maintain the third position despite being constantly challenged by Brendan Paul.

Sporting Class

Race 1

Naquib Nor Azlan managed to get first place in the Sporting category beating Tom Goh and Bradley Benedict Anthony.

In the early race, Tom Goh was in first place followed by Mirza Syahmi and Abdul Miqail. The 21 -year -old Naquib overtook Mirza Syahmi during the second lap before targeting Tom Goh.

Naquib showed his skill during an attempt to surpass from the outside of Tom Goh who had made a defensive move, Naquib then made a clever move by attacking from within.

Naquib once again maintains his position until the finish line with Tom Goh stays 16 seconds behind.

At the same time, there was a fierce battle between Mirza Syahmi and Bradley Benedict Anthony for third place. Bradley managed to snatch Mirza’s position during the eighth lap. After receiving dish after dish, Mirza's position dropped to sixth place.

Race 2

After success in Race 1, Naquib Azlan was placed in sixth place on the Race 2 race line, in front of him was Tom Goh and followed by Bradley Banedict Anthony, Abdul Miqail, Kenneth Koh and in first place, Mirza Syahmi.

The race started with intense competition between Abdul Miqail and Mirza Syahmi during the first corner. At the corner, Kenneth Koh overtakes both racers and snatch the first position.

During the second lap, a fight was seen between Naquib and Bradley to be in front of Abdul Miqail. In the third lap, Naquib snatched Syahmi's third position. Next, Naquib tried to attack Kenneth Koh several times before successfully intercepting him on the seventh lap. Bradley, who was not far behind, also managed to reach Kenneth Koh to be in second place.

The intense competition between Abdul Miqail and Kenneth Koh started from the 15th lap. On the last lap, the two cars collided during an attempt to put Miqail behind.

Crestmax Motorsports racer Bradley Benedict Anthony takes first place despite being behind Naquib with a time of less than 7.412 seconds. Naquib was given a 30-second penalty until falling to seventh place after being found overtaking Kenneth with all four tires out of the circuit. Completing the podium in second place was Kenneth and third, Abdul Miqail.

Rookie

Race 1

For the Rookie category, Nabil Azlan win the race beating Sharique Zulqarinain and Muhammad Hamdany Abdul Hamid.

Race 2

18 -year -old Sharique Zulqarinain got up to the podium for the second time after finishing second in Race 1 for winning Race 2. In second place was Muizz Musyaffa who was previously in last place in Race 1. In third place was Muhammad Hamdany.

Promotional

Race 1

Celebrity, Zizan Razak recorded the fastest time for all races on the first day of the qualifying session and also Race 1. Shukri Yahya got the second place with only 11.215 seconds behind Zizan. Despite starting the race from the last position, Shukri went beyond other racers. In third place was Ahirine Ahirudin.

Race 2

Race 2 was won by Shukri Yahya, followed by Zizan Razak and in third place, Nabil Ahmad.

The competition this time became a ‘stage’ that showed the true ability of Zizan Razak as not only a great comedian and actor but also a talented racer. Zizan showed a proud achievement as starting from the behind position, he also slipped in the first lap after being hit by another racer.

The determination to be first continued as Zizan tried to grab Nabil's spot in second position in the fourth round and succeeded.

However, Zizan could not catch up with Shukri Yahya who was initially in the fifth square. Shukri maintained his position until the finish line with a time advantage of 12.626 seconds over Zizan. Nabil was behind Zizan with a delay of only 1.735 seconds.

The next round is scheduled to take place in June in the hope that the Covid-19 case will begin to subside so that it can open the door for the public to watch the race live on the circuit.