After an explosive start to the 2017 Malaysia Speed Festival (MSF), fans are beginning to have an idea of what’s in store for round 2 scheduled on the 16th April.
The first race meeting in the 2017 MSF season featured 156 cars and it made for a lot of on-track action, in the two races contested for each categories at the Sepang International Circuit. There were numerous close door-to-door battles and paintwork scraps while jostling for positions in round 1, normal features in the MSF which are very popular for the spectators.
Multiple race winner Keifli Othman made it to the top step in the season opener in the premier Race Car Open category with his powerful Mayhem-Fast Autoworks Maxxoil Honda Civic K24. Although he had strong challenges in the opening lap from the likes of Faidzil Alang, Mark Darwin and Shazull Hisham, as the race progress he managed to create a comfortable gap which enabled him to win both races without any problems.
As many have noticed, this season teams competing in the Race Car Open has opted for aero aids to improve traction and driveability of the cars. These aero aids comprises of front splitter, flat underbody and rear diffuser making major and visible differences to the cars. Combined with a more powerful engine and the regulation spec HANKOOK tyres, lap times during the race have dropped tremendously compared to last season where the fastest car did a 2:24.890 (Faidzil Alang) while in round 1 this season Keifli recorded a 2:21.063 lap time. Remarkably all three Keifli’s close pursuers were doing 2:22 lap times which displays how much improvements they have all made this season.
It’s predicted that some cars would see more revision to the aero aids but the skills of the drivers would gain even more importance. As the cars gets faster, there’s a bigger challenge for the drivers to ensure longevity of crucial components which are stressed out due to the extra downforce meaning the drivers would have to work even harder to maintain consistency.
After the first round of the season, the drivers were happy with the performance of their cars. “The changes made on the car are clearly noticeable, especially with the combination of aero, more power and the new tyres,” said Faidzil Alang of team Fast Lap Autoworks. “For sure there’s still room for improvement and I’m sure our rivals are going to do the same too. The new season is building up to be as exciting as last year and I think we are going to have a lot more fun, this year.”
Round 2 would see the battle continue between Keifli, Faidzil, Mark Darwin of team SITTY-DNT and Evotech Racing’s Shazull Hisham for the Race Car Open top honour. But news from the paddock have indicated that these top 4 protagonist will be joined by another top level race car driver with an equally well built race car and if the rumour is true, would definitely shake up the grid.
In the Saga Cup category (expert), Boy Wong driving for team ST Wangan had an easy win in round 1 finishing ahead of JNA Racing’s Alif Hamdan and Jay Choong from team SMRT after both his pursuers were caught in various on-track altercations which delayed their progress. Although this category is missing the participation of Tengku Djan and Farique Hairuman who have taken a sabbatical, Boy Wong would probably be on a defensive mode come round 2 if he wants the championship title.
“In round 1 I was fortunate due to the outcome of my closest rivals but I expect them to be in the fighting spirit in the next race. My strategy would be the same, do a good start, stay out of trouble and perhaps this time be in a defensive mode should my rivals gets too close,” said Boy Wong.
More news would be updated as race day gets closer. Round 2 of the 2017 will kicked off at Sepang International Circuit on 16th April.