Sepang – An all-Malaysian driver line-up, a local team and the advantage of competing on home turf are all the ingredients of an exciting race weekend as Malaysians rally their support behind young drivers Amer Harris, Naquib Azlan and Wing Hin Motorsports who will be making their GT4 racing debut in the Thailand Super Series at the Petronas Sepang International Circuit this weekend (10-11 August 2024).
The two young drivers – amongst Malaysia’s most talented and rising new stars – will be piloting a brand new Toyota GR Supra GT4 competing with another eight other contenders in the class. Although they missed the first two rounds of the series (which was held in Thailand), the boys and team have another three rounds ahead of them to make any form of impact this season.
“Well, it will be our first ever race in the GT4 class, not only for myself but also for the team. There are plenty of things to learn about the car and the usage of tyres and we have done some testing over the past few weeks to acclimatize ourselves in the hope of achieving optimum performance,” said 24-year-old Naquib.
“I’ve also been doing laps on my simulator at home getting a feel for the car’s dynamics virtually and trying to bring that feel onto the real track. Despite limited testing time, we seem to have a decent baseline and both my teammate Amer and I have been working hard together with the team to best setup the vehicle. Our goal is without a doubt to be on the top step and best believe we are not letting our lack of experience stop us from aiming to achieve it.”
“Sepang being our home track obviously is a slight bonus as it is very familiar environment to be in. Personally, it is a proud moment being part of a full Malaysian outfit taking part in an international championship.”
For Amer, this weekend’s race in Sepang certainly has its advantages as it is the 21-year-old’s frequent playground.
“For sure being on home ground is a huge advantage, but the grid consists of a very strong driver and team line-up. I am definitely a little nervous considering it will be my debut in GT4 racing but at the same time our pace in testing theses past few days have looked very promising compared to the others, and so it is now a matter of translating this into results.”
Wing Hin Motorsports’ step up into GT4 racing is a natural progression to advance the team’s knowledge, experience and capabilities in competing in the higher levels of racing. Having already won events like the Sepang 1000KM Endurance Race and clinching numerous podium finishes in the Malaysia Championship Series, the team ventured to competing in Thailand last year where it secured a Class victory in the 10-hour Idemitsu Super Endurance 600 Southeast Asia Trophy. This year, Wing Hin Motorsports is also competing in the full season of the Super Compact Class in the Thailand Super Series.
The objective is two-fold for Wing Hin Motorsports. Passion is what drives the team to advance to compete in the higher levels of racing, but equally important is the strong commitment to help develop and give talented young Malaysian drivers the opportunity and exposure to excel internationally. GT4 racing will also contribute towards enhancing the knowledge and competencies of the team’s Malaysian race engineers, technicians, mechanics and other personnel.
