M’sian trio finish ninth

KUALA LUMPUR: The first all Malaysian drivers lineup of Jazeman Jaafar, Nabil Jeffri and Weiron Tan of Jackie Chan DC Racing team put up a commendable performance in their debut at the World Endurance Championship (WEC) to finish ninth overall in Spa, Belgium.

The overall race was topped by McLaren Formula One driver Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and their Toyota Gazoo Racing Team in the LMP1 category.

The Malaysian trio finished fourth in the LMP2 category to collect 15 championship points at the Total 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps held Saturday.

Commenting on the race, Weiron stressed that what was more important was that the performance in Spa had given him and his teammates confidence to face the bigger challenge in second round at the Le Mans 24 Hours next month.

“I am truly happy to finish fourth in the LMP2 category and score our first world championship points.

“But, knowing that we had the pace to be on the podium, made it bitter sweet at the end.

“The timing of the safety car in the final hour was very unfortunate, as Jazeman was exiting the box, the red light came on at pit exit as the safety car was deployed due to a massive crash at Eau Rouge and we were held on pit lane too long which eventually put us a lap down.

The next round of the WEC Super Season will be the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 1617.