A little rain in Sepang today provided a major twist in proceedings in Round 2 of the Malaysia Championship Series (MCS) as 19-year old Mitchell Cheah of N1 Racing stunned his more celebrated rivals in the Touring Production class to score an unexpected victory in Race 2 yesterday.
With Race 1 winner Keifli Othman and Pee Sau Fan forced to retire after 8 laps and championship leaders, Lai Wee Sing and Farouk Abdul Kathir involved in an incident and dropping out of contention, Mitchell, who finished 10th yesterday, took top honours in the one-hour endurance race.
Completing 22 laps in 1 hour 34.580 seconds, Mitchell, who competed in a Honda FD2 machine, finished 15.880 seconds ahead of team-mate Desmond Yee, who was seventh yesterday. Baron Sim of R-Engineering completed the podium; improving from his sixth place in Race 1.
With an additional 19 points from Round 2 including 15 points won today, Mitchell climbed to second in the overall standings with 39 points and three points behind the partnership of Lai Wee Sing and Farouk Abdul Kathir of R-Engineering, who have 42 points after two rounds.
“It was a difficult race as the track was a bit slippery. I just focus on my race and keep my own pace. Apparently, I benefited from the cars and drivers in front of me having technical problems or crashing out,” said Mitchell.
In the Malaysian Touring Car (MTC) championship, Nick Mah of Tedco Racing continued his dominance; winning his fourth race in a row in his Suzuki Swift despite carrying an additional 30kg in race success ballast over the weekend.
“It was a very hard race for me as I was bumped into in Turn 1 and spun. I had to fight my way back from last place to first. I am so relieved to win today,” said Nick, who now has a perfect score of 60 points after two rounds.
Like the previous three races, Kenny Lee and Neo Cheng Hen took second place and another 12 points; to add to their total haul of 48 points after two rounds. CY Ong of Dream Chaser Racing team took third in today’s race, which was the final event of a packed three-day programme.
