Vios Challenge
HE inaugural Vios Challenge, held during the Toyota Gazoo Racing racing festival, saw more than 20,000 visitors to the two-day weekend event outside the Batu Kawan Stadium in Penang.
The event was open to members of the public for free, while hosting a number of activities including drift shows, celebrity performances, food trucks, test drives and a special showcasing of the Toyota C-HR as well as to watch the Toyota Vios race cars battle it out for 18 laps through the two-lane 1.65km street-circuit.
The first half of the day remained dry for the qualifying rounds of Promotional, Sporting and Super Sporting categories, which saw Shawn Lee taking pole position and is joined by Fattah Amin and Shukri Yahaya.
The Sporting category had pole-sitter Ken Foo at the front, followed by Brandon Lim and Patrick Tam Wei Han, while Tengku Djan Ley sits at the head of the pack and was flanked by Mark Darwin and Syafiq Ali in the Super Sporting category.
The second half of the day brought heavy rain, which delayed the Promotional and Sporting category’s Race 1 session to a later time before closing for the day.
Due to the track being overly wet, the more experienced Sporting category was allowed out first, during which Teoh Khai Lin carried too much speed into turn-seven and unfortunately nudged Eric Yong’s car while in fourth position, sending him into the barriers to bring out the safety car.
At the end of the designated 25-minute total race time, Ken Foo took his first win and was followed closely by Brendon Lim and Patrick Tam Wei Han.
The Promotional category had pole-sitter Shawn Lee leading throughout the race, with Venice Min, Jannah Nick and Fattah Amin retiring before the end; as Shukri Yahaya and Danny Koo finishing in second and third place respectively.
On Sunday, drivers of the Super Sporting – Race One event were the first drivers to heat up the track and had Djan taking first place, Mark in second and Syafiq in third by the end of it. Although Djan won the first race, the results currently remain provisional due to a technical investigation.
Next up was the Promotional – Race 2 event, which once again saw Shawn taking first, Shukri in second and Danny in third, while Masaaki Murata and Diana Danielle retired due to a collision, after which the Sporting category was won by Ken in first, Keneth Koh in second and Brandon Lim taking third.
The last race was the most anticipated and according to the rule book, the top three finishers of the previous race (Race 1 – Super Sporting category) will be reversed and the previous race-winner forced to take on an additional 20kg of ballast – putting Syafiq at the head of the pack, with Mark and Djan behind.
In the end, Djan managed to muscle his way forward to take the victory with Mark again in second and William Ho in third place.
The next race will be held on Nov 25 and 26 at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park, Serdang.
– JAY WONG