The PETRONAS Syntium Team has consistently performed well at the MMER. But this year may prove to be their sternest test yet as they will be gunning to perform well in two international races in the same weekend.
1 team, 2 countries, 2 races, 4 cars, 10 drivers. The PETRONAS Syntium Team will be racing in Japan and Malaysia on the same weekend, taking on the fifth round of the Super Taikyu Series in Okayama and the Malaysia Merdeka Endurance Race (MMER) at Sepang
Running parallel operations in two different countries, the PETRONAS Syntium Team will be competing in the two races on the same weekend of 31 August to 1 September 2013. But the team nevertheless in full preparation mode for this arduous task.
Two pairs of identical Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 cars #1 and #28 will be racing at the same time in two different countries on the same weekend. At Okayama, drivers will be working hard to secure points for the Super Taikyu Championship in a three-hour race, whilst in Sepang the team is gunning to repeat its impressive performance from last year.
Held in the home country for title sponsor PETRONAS, the MMER hold lots of significance for defending champion PETRONAS Syntium Team. Having won it the last two years with the SLS AMG GT3 driven by Taniguchi, Ang and Masataka Yanagida, the team first won MMER in 2009 with the BMW Z4M. The victory in 2011 was the first ever in long-distance endurance racing worldwide for the SLS AMG GT3.
This year at Sepang, the SLS AMG GT3 #1 will be driven by Mercedes-Benz AMG Brand Ambassador Bernd Schneider, Jono Lester and Dominic Ang; whilst the SLS AMG GT3 #28 will be steered by Mercedes-Benz AMG Customer Sports co-ordinator Thomas Jäger, and German young drivers Lucas Wolf and Luca Ludwig.
Dato’ David Wong, Team Principal of PETRONAS Syntium Team, said, “Unfortunately, due to a change in this year’s MMER regulations and a clash in date with the Okayama round of the Super Taikyu Series, Taniguchi and Yanagida will not be able to drive in MMER this time. Our hopes will be on young drivers Ang and Lester, with the help of the very experienced Schneider.
“It will be a highly exciting weekend as we chase two championship titles in two different countries. In Japan we are working on our sixth consecutive Super Taikyu title, whilst in Malaysia we are targeting our third consecutive MMER win for the SLS AMG GT3. To manage both races, we have brought in two more cars and four more drivers, including the two AMG works drivers. Consistency and focus will be of utmost importance and we will give it all we’ve got.”
