With 19 cars competing for the top spot, the Sporting class is just as exciting to watch as the Super Sporting. The class also welcomed some new faces which added more action to the races and at the same time, a new winner onto the podium.
Ady Scores at Sporting Debut
Ady Rahimi might be making his first appearance in the Vios Challenge, but he is no stranger to motorsport and to Sepang. And it did not take long for him to prove his worth as he secured pole in qualifying after clocking a 1:26.160.
The great pace Ady had in qualifying went on into the race as the perfect start gave him the opportunity to distance himself from the rest of the field. Unfortunately for him, all the advantage created in the early laps disappeared as the safety car came out on Lap 15, resuming with only one lap left in the race.
Keeping his cool, Ady gave one last sprint to take the checkered flag and win the race. Finishing in second place was Bradley Benedict Anthony who was just 0.6 seconds away from Ady, followed by Clement Yeo in third position.
Super Soaking Sporting Showdown
Now facing a soaking circuit, the rain brought a whole different ballgame to the racers in Race 2. If there is one word to describe this race, “unpredictable” will surely be it as the winner did not even come from the top 10 positions!
Starting off from P15, Adam Khalid did not have the of best days on Race 1 as he finished far back in the field. However, he did not let a bad day in the office to affect his weekend. The rain caused quite some chaos at the start with a number of cars sliding out of control, and this was where Adam started to climb up the ranks.
Only after 1 lap, he was already up in P7 and on Lap 6, he made his move. Taking the inside line of Turn 2, Adam muscled out Mirza Syahmi to take the lead of the race, and the rest was history. He kept his lead throughout the remaining laps and won the race with a gap of more than 15 seconds.
Mirza Syahmi from Aylezo Motorsport finished the race in second place, and Eric Yong completed the top three standings of the Sporting category.
Syukri Yahya Leads the Promotional Pack
In the Promotional class, it was dream race for Syukri Yahya as he led the pack from start to finish in Race 1. While Syukri did have a comfortable and uncontested race throughout the way, the same could not be said to those behind him as Nabil Ahmad and Zizan Razak exchanged positions for a number of times.
The duel however ended badly for Zizan as the two made contact which resulted in a damaged suspension for Zizan, bringing an end to his race.
The fight for third place was quite a show as well where Akio Takeyama had to fend off Ahirine Ahirudin and Nabila Razali for a number of laps. After Akio and Ahirine made contact, Nabila moved up to claim third place and kept the position until the end of the race.
Sensational Syukri Does It Again
Race 2 was almost a carbon copy for Syukri as he once again emerged victorious in the race, but this time starting from sixth due to a reverse grid format. Syukri gave the front runners a good chase and by Lap 4, overtook Wany Hasrita to take the lead.
“Patience is very important in racing. I’ve also been working really hard at improving my driving skills and I made a conscious effort over the last seven months break to work on my driving and race craft on a simulator - that has helped a great deal to prepare me for this weekend,” said Syukri.
Nabil, who started from fifth, tried his best to challenge Syukri for the lead and the fight between the two went on for a while. However, Syukri had created quite a gap that Nabil had to settle as the first runner-up. Race 2 went on better for Zizan this time, despite starting from P9 on the grid. Gradually making his way up, he reached the podium spots and took home P3 in Race 2.
