Audi claims one-two finish in GTC class at MMER

The Malaysia Merdeka Endurance Race (MMER) was held at the Sepang International Circuit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, over the past weekend, with Team Clearwater Racing aiming for top honour in the 12-hour endurance event.

Last year, the team was leading for 10 hours before a mechanical fault set in and forced them to retire. This year, with Mok Weng Sun, H.Hamaguchi and Craig Baird at the helm, the team's Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 ran faultlessly, overtaking hot favourites - reigning champion Team Petronas Syntium with their Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 duo, to come in first with a total of 323 laps.  

In the runner-up position was the #23 Lamborghini LP560-4 car fielded by Team Lago Racing. Filling the podium in third position is Team AF Corse with their Ferrari 458 Italia GT3. Sadly, both Team Petronas' SLS AMG GT3s succumbed to technical failures, and did not finish the race.

In the GTC class, Audi took two top spots with their R8 LMS Cup racers. These were the exact cars that competed in the LMS Cup sprint series earlier in the morning, albeit with minor modifications such as additional fog lamps and endurance-spec brakes. 

Alex Yoong scored a personal high during the race weekend in front of his home crowd. Having won both Round 7 and 8 in the Audi R8 LMS Cup sprint series, he went on to help his team, Tiger Absolute Racing, to claim top honour in the GTC class.

Together with team mates Jacky Yeung and Ashraff Dewal, they clocked a total of 303 laps. Chinese Team BRT, who also fielded the Audi R8 LMS Cup racer, came in second with a total of 275 laps.

Sharing his joy over Audi's one-two win in the GTC class, Rene Koneberg, Director of Audi Sport customer racing Asia said, "All the drivers and teams did a very impressive job and the outcome was the best we could achieve during this weekend. I was especially happy that our driver Alex Yoong was able to make it a triple win in front of his home fans."

Details of the results as follow:

GT3 Class:
1) Clearwater Racing - W.S.Mok/H.Hamaguchi/Craig Baird (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 #7)
2) Lago Racing - Roger Lago/David Russell/Peter Kox (Lamborghini LP560-4 #23)
3) AF Corse - Pasin Lathouras/Mike Salo/Michele Rugolo (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 #3)

GTC Class:
1) Tiger Absolute Racing - Jacky Yeung/Alex Yoong/Ashraff Dewal (Audi R8 LMS Cup #66)
2) BRT - Ren Wei/Sun Bo/Yang Xi/He Yi/Wu Zhou (Audi R8 LMS Cup #5)
3) ARC Bralislava - Miro Konopka/C.Kranenberg/Daniel Bilski (Porsche 997 Cup #077)

SP Class:
1) Mike Racing - Michael Chua/Joseph Chua/Rick Cheang (Aston Martin Vantage GT4 #96)
2) Fawster Motorsports - Faidzil Alang/M.Nazir/M.Ridzwan/Khairul Anwar (Nissan Fairlady 350Z #53)
3) Painkiller-Singha-Camper - Naputt Assakul/Rudolf Man/Umar A Rahman (Aston Martin Vantage GT4 #6)

TP Class:
1) Painkiller-Singha-Camper - S.Kanjanapas/A. Eamlumnow/P.Eamlumnow (Honda Civic Type R #60)
2) N1 Racing Team - Hsiao Tung Wei/Eric Lo/Badrul Hisham (Honda Civic Type R #55)
3) Team ST Powered - Mike Teh/Arthur Ong/Ben Oh (Honda Civic Type R #44)