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A Malaysia Day to remember as Petronas Syntium Team secure 1-3 finish in MMER!

PETRONAS Syntium Team made it a Malaysia Day weekend to remember at the Malaysia Merdeka Endurance Race (MMER) when they secured a 1-3 finish in record breaking style after completing 321 laps, upsetting hot favourites, Belgian Audi in the 12 hour event at the Sepang International Circuit yesterday midnight.

Starting off second on the grid during the flag off at noon, Nobuteru Taniguchi, Masataka Yanagida and Dominic Ang in a Mercedes SLS GT3 defied all odds to produce a magnificent come back, even upstaging their more fancied team mates, Tatsuya Kataoka, Fariqe Hairuman, Bernd Schneider who led the race at the front row.

In a relatively trouble free race, Kataoka/Hairuman/Schneider set the pace for the first 10 hours until mechanical problems which forced them to make a lengthy detour at the pits enabled Le Mans powered Belgian Audi, Marcel Fassler, Frank Biela and Marco Werner who qualified third to overtake them at lap 262.

But the drama was not to end there as Taniguchi/Yanagida/Ang woke up from their slumber to gradually inch their way from their fourth position for most of the race to second before stealing it at the death.

It was another unbelievable heart break for Biela and Werner who again finished bridesmaids after suffering dissapointment at the hands of Arrows Racing last year.

But credit to the Audi R8 LMS and Petronas Syntium who showed that their turn of pace, superb pit crew and high level of organisation were no match for the other teams, with both teams setting the bar with a record 321 laps, beating the previous record by a whopping 6 laps.

Taniguchi/Yanagida/Ang pulled through at the chequered flag after setting a total time 12:01:57.624 followed by Belgian Audi, 12:03:08.113 and Kataoka/Hairuman/Schneider finishing the race 6 laps behind in 12:02:22.211.

"We are so happy for this win and also for our sister team in making it a 1-3 finish in this race. We were not hoping to win, but when we saw our team mates suffering problems at the pits, we decided to make our move and it paid off, said Ang at the post race press conference last night.

Petronas' win was their first GT Class and overall title win since 2009 when Kataoka, M.Orido and Johan Adzmi romped home after completing 306 laps.

In the Sports Production, Adrian D' Silva, Mohd Fahrizal Hasan, Ian Ross Geekie emerged victorious and seventh overall after completing 277 laps in 12:01:58.479 while ST Powered led by Teh Kian Boon, Aloysius Lek, Desmond Soh romped to victory in the Touring Production after 274 laps  in 12:03:34.345.
 
Overall Champion 2011 MMER - Nobuteru Taniguchi/Masataka Yanagida/Dominic Ang (Mercedes SLS)– PETRONAS Syntium Team

Result

GT Class Top 3
1. Nobuteru Taniguchi/Masataka Yanagida/Dominic Ang (Mercedes SLS) – PETRONAS Syntium Team
2. Frank Biela/Marcel Fassler/Marco Werner (Audi R8 ) – Belgian Audi Club
3.Tatsuya Kataoka/Fariqe Hairuman/Bernd Schneider (Mercedes SLS) – PETRONAS Syntium Team

Touring Production Top 3
1. Teh Kian Boon/Aloysius Lek/Desmond Soh (Honda Civic FD2-R) – ST Powered
2. Wong Yew Choong/Soh Kee Koon / Lai Wee Sing (Honda Civic FD2 Mugen)-Type R Racing Team
3. Kenny Lee/Chris O’Shannessy/Wan Weng Yan (Toyota Altezza)- Wing Hin Motorsports

Sports Production Top 3
1. Adrian D’ Silva/M.Fahrizal/Ian Ross Geekie (Aston Martin  Vantage) – Nexus Racing Team
2. Patrick Ng/Khoo Kay Hong/ Chye Ao Anwar (Lotus 2-11)
3.  Shinichi Hyodo/Steven Chian/Kaziki Hiramane(Honda S2000) – Tracy Sports