KUALA LUMPUR: The final day of round three of the Toyota Vios Challenge turned out to be an exciting affair at the Batu Kawan Stadium street circuit in Penang today.
In the super sporting class, M7 Racing Team’s Syafiq Ali made the most of pole position and a first corner incident to lead from start to finish in Race Two.
Finishing two seconds behind was Team Dream Chaser’s Brendan Paul Anthony while third was Team Nanoplus driver Keifli Othman.
Syafiq led into the first corner unaware of an incident where several cars bunched up at the exit of turn one.
Brendan who stayed on the outside line going into the first corner, however, managed to steer clear of trouble and together with Keifli, broke free of the confusion in pursuit of Syafiq.
“I was unaware of what happened behind and was focused on the clear track ahead. It wasn’t until a few corners later that I realised the rest of the grid was nowhere to be seen with the exception of Brendan and Keifli,” said Syafiq.
The best race action of the day, however, was in the sporting class.
Jakson Tan of Revo Technik Malaysia kept it together to win Race Two after fending off a strong challenge from Kenneth Koh who finished second with Datuk Ken Foo in third.
Jakson, a substitute driver for the team, made a brilliant getaway from second position on the starting grid to lead the 22-lap race from start to finish. In pole position was Eddy Tan, who faltered his start and dropped to fourth after being passed by Hiewa Racing’s Wong Chin Eeg and celebrity Shawn Lee.
Eddy’s race eventually came to an end in the second lap after braking too late and coming into contact with the wall.
The promotional class saw an epic battle between actress Janna Nick and television presenter and comedian Nabil Ahmad. In third place was singer Aiman Tino.
Starting from pole position, Janna immediately jumped into the lead, thanks to a brilliant start with Nabil in hot pursuit for some 18 laps.
Nabil eventually overtook her but much to the surprise of spectators, Janna fought back and regained the top position just a few corners before the chequered flag.
“Nabil was obviously faster but I did all I could to prevent him from overtaking. Eventually, I gave way… but just enough for him to enjoy the lead for one lap before regaining it and going for the win,” said Janna who celebrated her first ever win in 14 races.
“It certainly helps to start from pole position.”
Race One winner Diana Danielle’s campaign ended four laps from the finish when she went too wide into the corner and hit the wall conceding her fourth place in the race.
The fourth and final round of the Toyota Vios Challenge will be held at the Sepang International Circuit in April.
