The Sakura Tedco Racing Team dominated the opening round of the five-leg Malaysia Championship Series (MCS) as the dynamic duo of Indonesian Fitra Eri and Malaysian Mark Darwin made a clean sweep of victories at Sepang International Circuit (SIC) yesterday.
Competing for the first time in the premier Touring Production class, Fitra, who is by profession a motoring editor but competes regularly in local and international series, showed his skills and experience to score comfortable wins while Darwin has underlined yet again that he will be the one to beat for the 1600cc championship.
With the wins, the Sakura Tedco Racing drivers took a perfect score of 40 points to lead their respective championships, with Fitra holding a 15-point advantage over the partnership of Lai Wee Sing and Abdul Kaathir in the Touring Production Championship, and Darwin having a 10-point advantage over Singaporean Charles Jean of TOC Motorsports.
After scoring a comfortable victory over Abdul Kaathir of R Engineering in the morning session, Fitra was closely challenged in Race 2, with the Indonesian taking the chequered flag with a mere 1.329 seconds over Mitchell Cheah of N1 Racing Team. Boy Wong took third place in Race 2, finishing the 10-lap race in 25 minutes 14.417 seconds.
Hampered by a broken anti-roll bar in qualifying yesterday, Darwin had a flawless Race Day, edging Singaporean Charles Jean of TOC Motorsports for the win in both races. Kenny Lee took third place in Race 1 in his Suzuki Swift while Nick Mah took the final podium place in Race 2 in another Suzuki Swift.
Defending champion Fariqe Hairuman, who competes under the banner of Viper Niza Racing Team, had a nightmarish start to the defence of his title, being forced to retire in Race 1 after his Proton Satria Neo machine blew its engine.
Round 2 of the MCS will be held from 4 to 7 August 2016, with Round 3 slated on 30 September to 2 October 2016 as support races for the 2016 FIA Formula 1 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix. Rounds 4 and 5 will be held from 11 to 13 November 2016.
