Sepang Kart Circuit
Saturday, 31st December 2005
Dennis Woo Photopages: http://denniswoo.fotopages.com/
PC Net Com overpowered eight other companies and car clubs to win my-KART’s first IC3 challenge. The two runners up were the two Shell teams. All top three teams completed 87 laps over the 90 minute endurance race.
Shell had entered two teams and the oil & gas industry was also represented by Petronas Melaka. Petronas Melaka had a strong race running second for almost 20 laps in the first quarter of the endurance race.
Team HP which finished fifth at the end of the 90minute race also had a strong race running as high as third up to lap 84 when a kart failure dropped them to fifth overall.
The top car club was BMW ///M Division finishing fourth followed by italiauto.com in sixth and AROC Malaysia. AROC Malaysia was the dominant early leader until the kart expired midway through the race.
AROC Malaysia’s first driver Luen made full use of its pole position start to pull out a huge gap and was untroubled in the first half of the race and was looking strong favourites for the win. However, misfortune struck the team on lap 42 during their second pitstop when a broken fuel throttle effectively ended their race.
However, the most impressive progress through the field was made by SK Era Resources. SK Era started last on the grid, being the lightest of all teams inclusive ballast. By lap 4, they were already P6. Their first driver Salehudin (Udi) Shatar making great strides and clocking an early fastest lap of 57.27secs. The team opted to keep Udi out on the track as long as possible and he duly delivered: Udi moved to –
- fifth on lap 9
- fourth on lap 12
- third on lap 13
- second on lap 23
-
- first on lap 24 before the pitstop which dropped the team back to second
SK Era was then took the lead once AROC Malaysia retired on lap 42 and was holding off the two Shell teams until they had a chain failure at their second pitstop on lap 59. Unfortunately, the mechanics were slow to fix the problem and the team furiously pulled out of the race citing poor technical support.
Petronas finished seventh after running strongly at the beginning of the race. However, a mechanical failure after turn 3 halted their progress for some time as the team dogmaticly sought to bring the kart back to the paddock to get the problem fixed. They eventually returned to the track after losing a huge chunk of time, but drove strongly to finish the race 21 laps behind the winners.
A similar problem also hit eventual sixth place finishers, Italiauto.com as they too had some problems when the chain came off their kart in a spectacular manner in front of the grandstands which lost them valuable time. Despite this, they continued on with the race and finished 17 laps down.
Team HP was another casualty of the gruelling race as they made steady progress running in the top 4 for the majority of the race until they eventually passed Shell B Team on lap 81 for what looked good to be the final podium position. Unfortunately a late mechanical failure on lap 84 robbed them of a top four finish.
BMW ///M Division was plagued by a poor handling kart for the race as the team struggled with poor grip which slowed them in the corners. Initially, the team dropped to ninth in the first half of the race, but kept the kart going and benefitted from the problems faced by the other teams to steadily move up the order and finished fourth, 2 laps down on the leaders.
The two Shell teams made steady progress throughout the race and in particular Shell A made great use of the pitstop strategies at the first round.
John King, team principal of Shell A said “we had made steady progress in the first stint, but struggled behind a few other teams in close competition. We decided to bring in (our first driver) Hui Nee early so that I (second driver) could get a clear track.”
“We were first to stop on lap 18 (in eighth position) and eventually managed to leapfrog three places once the first round of pitstops were completed. We found ourselves running fifth behind our sister team and within two laps moved up to fourth” John continued.
“Second place is a good result as we had some grip problems and our refuelling was messed up causing for us to come in on the third pitstop for a splash and dash. Unfortunately, PC Net Com were too quick for us, so we are happy with the second place” declared John.
Team principal for Shell B, Dennis Woo was equally pleased with the result stating “we know our drivers have done their very best and the two podium finishes for both Shell teams is a wonderful statement of the calibre of drivers we have in the company. Shell would definitely participate in my-KART’s coming 2006 IC3 Series.”
The last word has to go to team PC Net Com, which was hastily assembled at the last moment after the pull out of the Eon Bank Racing Team. Team principal Azmee Ahmad was very happy with the result stating “our drivers used their experience in the my-KART events to make progress through the field today. The kart was good and our pitstops went without problems”.
“We decided to refuel during our first pitstop and that worked out well for us as we were untroubled in the second and third pitstops, and were able to take full advantage of the (refuelling) congestions faced by other teams later on” Azmee continued.
The fastest lap of the day also went to PC Net Com and to their last driver, Roduwan who clocked 57.06secs.
At the end of the race, Fazz thanked the participants and organisations for the support and announced that my-KART will be launching the first season of the IC3 Series in 2006. “I would ask all keen motor-sports enthuasiasts to register at the my-KART website and tune in regularly for updates of our 2006 events. We will be having around 20 races, including a 10 series K2 and K3 series, a 6 race Mega Endurance and a 4 race IC3.”
“I believe we can attract more corporate participation and funding so that IC3 will become the Rat Race for the motor-sport enthusiasts in the country. my-KART aims to continue its initiative of building the foundation for Malaysian motor-sports. We want to make racing accessible to all Malaysians and build driver talent and interest from there on. We are confident that we can successfully Popularise Grassroots Motor-sports”, said Fazz.
“I would also like to thank Mr Sivam and Ricky from Star Metro who were here to cover the race today.” Fazz said.
The full race results are as follows:
[CSV]
Pos,No.,Team,Driver 1,Driver 2,Driver 3,Driver 4,Weight (kg),Laps completed
1,1,PC Net Com,Azmee (TP),Henzee,Rahimi,Roduwan,272,87
2,10,Shell A,Hui Nee*,John (TP),Eric,Terence,277,87
3,13,Shell B,Dennis (TP),Syahrul,Azlan,Shahnaz,282,87
4,9,BMW ///M Division,Jason (TP),Alvin,Fazz,Julian,283,85
5,5,Team HP,Tom (TP),Joon Hiang,Jagjeet,Irwan,284,84
6,11,Italiauto.com,Desmond,Edy Hazry,Ramsey,Razmyn (TP),284,70
7,7,Petronas Melaka,Fauzi (TP),Shazwan,Amin,Fathli,284,66
8,4,SK Era Resources,Salehudin,Shaeran,Muhaymin (TP),Razak,270,59
9,8,AROC Malaysia,Luen,Yan,Steward (TP),Joey,326,42
[/CSV]
* includes one female driver
Full Race Lap Charts for the 90 minute endurance:
[CSV]
Lap,P1,P2,P3,P4,P5,P6,P7,P8,P9
Start Grid,8,11,7,5,9,13,10,1,4
Team,AROC MY,Italia Auto,Petronas,Team HP,BMW M Div,Shell B,Shell A,PC Net Com,SK Era Res
Lap 1,8,11,7,5,9,13,10,1,4
Lap 2,8,7,11,5,9,10,13,4,1
Lap 3,8,7,5,11,9,10,4,13,1
Lap 4,8,7,5,11,9,4,10,13,1
Lap 5,8,7,5,11,9,4,13,10,1
Lap 6,8,7,5,11,9,4,13,10,1
Lap 7,8,7,5,11,9,4,13,10,1
Lap 8,8,7,5,11,9,4,13,10,1
Lap 9,8,7,5,11,4,9,13,10,1
Lap 10,8,7,11,5,4,9,13,10,1
Lap 11,8,7,11,5,4,9,13,10,1
Lap 12,8,7,11,4,5,13,9,10,1
Lap 13,8,7,4,11,5,13,9,10,1
Lap 14,8,7,4,11,5,13,9,10,1
Lap 15,8,7,4,5,11,13,9,1,10
Lap 16,8,7,4,5,13,11,1,10,9
Lap 17,8,7,4,5,13,11,1,10,9
Lap 18,8,7,4,5,13,11,1,9,10
Lap 19,8,7,4,5,13,11,1,9,10
Lap 20,8,7,4,13,5,11,10,1,9
Lap 21,8,7,4,5,11,13,10,1,9
Lap 22,8,7,4,5,13,10,9,11,1
Lap 23,8,4,7,5,13,10,11,1,9
Lap 24,4,8,7,13,10,5,11,1,9
Lap 25,4,8,7,13,10,5,11,1,9
Lap 26,8,4,7,10,13,5,11,1,9
Lap 27,8,4,7,10,5,13,11,1,9
Lap 28,8,4,7,10,5,13,11,1,9
Lap 29,8,4,5,10,7,13,11,1,9
Lap 30,8,4,5,10,7,13,11,1,9
Lap 31,8,4,5,10,7,13,11,1,9
Lap 32,8,4,5,10,7,13,11,1,9
Lap 33,8,4,5,10,13,7,11,1,9
Lap 34,8,4,5,10,13,11,1,7,9
Lap 35,8,4,5,10,13,11,1,7,9
Lap 36,8,4,5,10,13,11,1,7,9
Lap 37,8,4,5,10,13,11,1,7,9
Lap 38,8,4,5,10,13,11,1,7,9
Lap 39,8,4,5,10,11,13,1,7,9
Lap 40,8,4,5,10,11,13,1,7,9
Lap 41,8,4,10,5,13,11,1,7,9
Lap 42,4,10,13,5,11,1,7,9,8 (x)
Lap 43,4,10,13,11,5,1,7,9,
Lap 44,4,10,13,1,5,7,9,11,
Lap 45,4,10,13,1,5,7,9,11,
Lap 46,4,10,13,1,5,7,9,11,
Lap 47,4,10,13,1,5,7,9,11,
Lap 48,4,10,13,1,5,9,7,11,
Lap 49,4,13,10,1,5,9,7,11,
Lap 50,4,13,10,1,5,9,7,11,
Lap 51,4,13,10,1,5,9,7,11,
Lap 52,4,13,10,1,5,9,7,11,
Lap 53,4,13,10,1,5,9,7,11,
Lap 54,4,13,10,1,5,9,11,7,
Lap 55,4,13,10,1,5,9,11,7,
Lap 56,4,13,10,1,5,9,11,7,
Lap 57,4,13,10,1,5,9,11,7,
Lap 58,4,13,10,1,5,9,11,7,
Lap 59,4 (x),13,10,1,5,9,11,7,
Lap 60,13,10,1,5,9,11,7,,
Lap 61,1,10,13,5,9,11,7,,
Lap 62,1,10,13,5,9,11,7,,
Lap 63,1,10,13,5,9,11,7,,
Lap 64,1,10,13,5,9,11,7,,
Lap 65,1,10,13,5,9,11,7,,
Lap 66,1,10,13,5,9,11,7 (f),,
Lap 67,1,10,13,5,9,11,,,
Lap 68,1,10,13,5,9,11,,,
Lap 69,1,10,13,5,9,11,,,
Lap 70,1,10,13,5,9,11 (f),,,
Lap 71,1,10,13,5,9,,,,
Lap 72,1,10,13,5,9,,,,
Lap 73,1,10,13,5,9,,,,
Lap 74,1,10,13,5,9,,,,
Lap 75,1,10,13,5,9,,,,
Lap 76,1,10,13,5,9,,,,
Lap 77,1,10,13,5,9,,,,
Lap 78,1,10,13,5,9,,,,
Lap 79,1,10,13,5,9,,,,
Lap 80,1,10,13,5,9,,,,
Lap 81,1,10,5,13,9,,,,
Lap 82,1,10,5,13,9,,,,
Lap 83,1,10,5,13,9,,,,
Lap 84,1,10,5 (x),13,9,,,,
Lap 85,1,10,13,9 (f),,,,,
Lap 86,1,10,13,,,,,,
Lap 87,1 (f),10 (f),13 (f),,,,,,
[/CSV]