MKC 2023 Round 6 Race Report
The weather was cool with dark clouds in the distance. But for the 45 racers who took part in Round 6 of IAME Series Asia, the heat within was hotter than ever. With just two more rounds to go until the champions are officially decided, there was plenty to fight for at RUD Sepang International Circuit last Sunday, 20th August. Drivers and teams from India, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Japan, and Kuwait joined local Malaysians in another round of battles on the kart track.
In the Cadet class, a strong showing by Italcorse Racing Team and their two drivers Jamie White and Leornado Mauri stole the show in all races up to the final. It seems that Leornado was saving his ability all day for the Final and made the race-winning move on Jamie with three laps to go. Jamie did his best to counter and repeat his Pre-Final winning strategy but once passed Leornado created enough of a gap to bring home the win.
However, the real battle was behind them for third, fourth, and fifth place amongst the current championship leaders Esteban Freihuber, Kamolphu Anuchatkul, and Michael Lederer. Going into Round 6, the trio was split by 20-points in the championship with Kamolphu ahead of Esteban by just 5-points. In the Pre-Final, there wasn’t much battling between the three leaders as early race action split them up. However, in the Final, they were inseparable. Esteban did jump into second place at the start to pass Leornado but once the two swapped the following lap, the battle was on for the three championship leaders. Kamolphu took full advantage of Leornrdo’s move on Esteban to close the gap and managed to pass him the next lap to take third place. Michael, right behind and within striking range, played it cool and hoped to pick up the pieces of the battle between Esteban and Kamolphu. A determined Esteban fought back hard and never let Kamolphu get away and he eventually lined up a classic pass at the double hairpin. From then on, Esteban, Kamolphu, and Michael were tied together by an invisible string all the way to the chequered flag separated by 0.3s across the line. Esteban won that battle ahead of Kamolphu. The final round will be the decider. Spice.
Further down the grid, there was plenty of action between Maximilian Schilling, Leeloo Freihuber, and Kwanwoo Lee in one group and Danish Dalmiya, Ethan Ng, and Hamza Balasinorwala in another. Maximilian eventually managed to pull away from his leaving behind Kwanwoo and Leeloo to fight it out. However, although faster than Kwanwoo, Leeloo could not manage to make a pass and settled for 8th place behind Kwanwoo. William Jochmann and Santokh Singh rounded off the grid.
In the Junior Category, it was a masterclass display by Katrina Ee, from DRM Racing Team, who dominated all races including qualifying. She is on course to win the overall title assuming all goes well in the final round. However, the action was non-stop behind her as the rest of the pack battled it out for 2nd place.
In the Junior Pre-Final, it was a clean start by the entire grid in lap 1 but by lap 2 the top eight had presented themselves. As Katrina steadily pulled away, followed closely by Calvin Wibowo, Zarief Rayqal had his target set on Hendra Putra after making quick work of Kiaan Shah. With 10 laps to go, Rayqal managed to pass Hendra and create a gap. Meanwhile, Kiaan was having the battle of his life with Sanjana Dandu which resulted in him losing five positions in one turn. After which, it was Ethan Seto’s turn to challenge Sanjana and that turned out to be quite heated as they swapped positions at least three times… in one lap! With 5-laps to go, Zarief had managed to chase down Conrad Garrow and pass him at the double-hairpin with Hendra doing the same with one lap to go. Mohamad Anaqi and Seshan Gunasekera also had a contentious last lap as they fought fiercely at every corner until the chequered flag.
In the Junior Final, the fireworks continued. The race start saw karters go three-wide into Turn 1, which somehow resulted in three drivers further back the grid coming into contact and causing all three to spin at Turn 2. Ethan and Rayqal managed to capitalize on the calamity and make their way up the grid with Rayqal jumping into second, this time he did not let Katrina get away and stayed close behind followed by Calvin. Ethan hunted Hendra down and managed to pass him within the first five laps. Kiaan and Sara Kojima also had their share of the action as they challenged each other so hard at one point they both ran wide into Turn 1 with Kiaan suffering a front fairing penalty as a result. Sujana and Anaqi continued their Pre-Final contest while Conrad was having a difficult weekend and found himself dropping down the order due to deteriorating engine performance. With 8-laps to go, Rayqal had managed to stay with Katrina and started applying some pressure. However, Katrina responded but just barely as they crossed the line 0.3s apart. On the other hand, Hendra’s chase was more successful as he pulled off some heroics on the last lap to pass Ethan and take fourth place back finishing 0.2s ahead at the finish line. Epic.
In the Senior Category it was the Aditya Wibowo and Mohamed Feroz show as the two DRM Racing Team drivers dominated all outings, with Aditya displaying a dominant drive by winning all races. Only Stefano Pedani momentarily managed to disrupt the show with a second-place finish in the Pre-Final.
In the Senior Pre-Final, other than Stefano getting the jump on Feroz in the first few laps, it was a pretty straightforward race. Feroz tried to apply some pressure on Stefano on the last lap with a move on the inside at the end of the back straight but ran wide as a result allowing Stefano to hold second place to the end. There were also some heated exchanges between Aditya Patnaik and Dipan in the last few laps, Aditya won that contest to take fifth in class.
In the Senior Final, it was more dramatic with Stefano losing out at the start and dropping down to fourth. Feroz and Aditya continued their show while Ezra spent the race fending off Stefano. This bodes well for Feroz as he leads Ezra by 30-points going into Round 6. Further down the grid, Shaveeya Sha’in seemed comfortable racing amongst the Master and Veteran drivers as she lacked the pace to keep up with any of the other Senior drivers ahead of her. The championship is still wide open with Feroz bagging a bunch of points and Ezra keeping up the pressure, the decider will definitely be in Round 7. Watch this space.
In the Masters Category, it was Nik Iruwan of the DRM Racing Team who managed to fend off challenges from Mohd Jasa and Luke Armstrong while putting on a stellar performance by keeping pace with the lighter Senior drivers. Iruwan managed to finish both Pre-Final and Final in top-5 positions, behind the leading pack of Senior drivers. Luke Armstrong managed to score some valuable points with two second-place finishes in the Pre-Final and Final after troubled sessions in the Heats. Championship leader Thiru Kumaran had a forgettable Sunday as his pace was unusually off the mark. He will need to pull all tricks out of the bag for the final round to win the overall championship. There is some hope for Thiru as his closest championship contender Salwal Jumawal could not outpace him all day and finished behind Thiru and also suffered an unfortunate DNF in the Final. But Luke is mathematically still within a chance if he has a good run in Round 7. Exciting.
In the Veteran Category, Lee Lung Nien suffered a major setback in his charge for the overall title. Fastest in Time Trials and winner of Heat 1, Lung’s luck ran out in Heat 2 and the Pre-Final with two DNFs. He managed to salvage the weekend with a second place in the Final, 0.3s behind Veteran class winner Peter Chua. Championship leader Ridzman Aziz drove home in 3rd place. The overall winner of the Veteran class will be decided in the final round. Dramatic.
The final round will take place on 17 September in Elite Speedway, USJ. It will be a great test for all drivers and championship contenders as the series makes its way to a different circuit after a long spell at RUD Sepang International Circuit. There will be plenty to fight for in most of the categories as the final round will be The Decider.
See you at Round 7!
