Racing thrills and spills at MMER

Although 17 teams out of 44 racing teams failed to finish in the 12-hour Merdeka Millenium Endurance Race at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia, on Aug 6 to 8, the determination of the many professional teams, and the upset loss of the Singapore’s defending champs, made it unforgettable for those who had the privilege of watching it.

That almost 40% of the teams failed to make it to the finish line, shows just how demanding this race, which has been held annually since 2000, is, even to the most established names in motorsports.

An example of a famous and very promising team that lucked out, was the pairing between Liqui Moly Team Engstler and Slovakian driver Miro Konopka, who is the team owner of European Porsche team – Autoracing Club Bratislava. Konopka was also placed sixth at last year’s MMER.

Konopka’s team supplied the Porsche 996 GT3, while Liqui Moly drivers Franz Engstler, who has competed in motorsports for over 20 years, and Masaki Kano, who won the Asian Touring Car Championship in 2007 with Team Engstler, were part of his group.

Even though they started on the back end of the grid, due to a decision by the stewards to cancel all qualifying times they have because of a mistake by one of their crew, the Porsche managed to “claw its way up” the field, overtaking many cars in the beginning laps.

When an unfortunate mechanical failure caused the team to drop out of the race after 6 hours, they had clocked a time that would likely have netted them a spot in the top 6 if they had completed.

When asked what he feels about the race, Miro Konopka told UrbanWire, “Well, mishaps are common in endurance races. I am confident that we can try again next year and achieve even greater results.”

At then end of the challenge, it was Malaysian Team Petronas Syntium that accelerated ahead of the pack in their country’s largest race event, winning the 10th edition of this race after a grueling 306 laps in just under 12 hours.

Defending champions Porsche Club Singapore secured third place, despite also starting at the back end of the grid after a stall at the start and subsequent suspension failure ruined their chances of repeating their victory this year.

^{*Images and video by Daniel Ong.}