This year is the second time I have competed in the Merdeka Millenium Endurance race at sepang. Last year, driving for the Pennzoil Malaysia team, we finished 5th in class B in a Proton Satria. This year I was approached by team HPC to drive a Toyota Celica in the same class. I would be joining a female driver, Angeline Ooi, who had been trained in the U.S.A and Ross Jamison who I used to kart with when I was younger. Ross is also currently leading the Formula BMW Pacific Championship.

These were the perfect ingredients for a class winning performance, but as is the way with endurance racing, things never turn out quite the way you had planned. In testing we were setting some very competitive times, but come race weekend, the car developed a mind of its own, and especially during the race, would randomly supply power, or not depending on what we could only surmise as the mood it was in. The oil pressure was fluctuating endlessly, so it was assumed that there was a faulty sensor somewhere which was causing the engine's computer to malfunction and put the engine in safe mode.

This basically meant, that in some sessions, when the engine was working well, we were very competitive. Even faster than the eventual winners of our class, but when the engine wasn't working, our times dropped by about ten seconds per lap. Coupled with a few mishaps during the race and some time spent in the pitlane, this meant we could only manage seventh in class. This is actually a respectable position, but it was slightly dissapointing considering the potential it had.

Hopefully next year things will go better and we will manage a better position