New Era for Motorsports Across Causeway

As SIC gets ready to stage its 10th edition of the Formula One Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix next year, Datuk Mokhzani said members of the Malaysian motorsports community to work even harder to build on the successes of 2007.

“2007 is indeed a spectacular year for Malaysian’s motorsports industry – both on and off track ... We saw the maturing of Jazeman Jaafar, whom at
14 years old, was scoring regular wins at the Formula BMW Asia Series, which no Malaysian had achieved before.

“We also saw the crowning of Fariqe Hairuman of Team Syntium Petronas as Malaysia’s first ever Asian Touring Car Series champion. In Formula One, our very own Fairuz Fauzy is the test driver of Spyker Ferrari and closing in on our dreams of having a second Malaysian Formula One driver.

“To me, however, the most significant moment of 2007 would be the coming together of the AAM and the Motorsports Association of Malaysia, which I believed is the beginning of a new era for Malaysian motorsports,” he said at SIC Appreciation Dinner 2007 at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre here this evening.

After a long stand-off, AAM, the national sporting authority for motorsports in Malaysia had accepted MAM as its affiliate and agreed to allow the new motorsports establishment to issue racing license and permits for local events.

Mokhzani said: “Now that acquiring racing licenses are made even easier through AAM and MAM, I would like to call on each and everyone of you to convey this message to your friends and colleagues to get their racing license and join us at the racing track.

The streets are not for racing; and I am sure each and every one of you will agree that racing is more enjoyable and fun at the circuit. Above all, it provides a safe environment for you and the spectators,” he said.

At the dinner, SIC presented the championship trophies to the overall winners of the Malaysian Super Series, Sepang Drag Battle and the SIC-AAM Malaysian Motorcross Championship.

Mokhzani said now that all the track resurfacing works are completed, users of SIC track and facilities could expect a smooth running of all the track events at the circuit.

The Malaysian Super Series would be run again be run with five rounds each for bike and car competitions. The competitions would again run in separately due to time constraints and the increasing series in each of the competition.

The Sepang Drag Battle will feature five rounds again, but SIC were currently re-looking at all the categories competed, with an aim of increasing the quality and tightening the rules of competition.

Similar, SIC would be be conducting the same review on the Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race especially in view of the increasing participation of the Class A and open class entries, Mokhzani added.

Credits: nikolaiski