Malaysia’s Kegani Racing Academy (KRA) has announced the launch of the SKILLDRVN Swift Pro-cup in 2026. The series will be inscribed as a national status championship consisting of 5 rounds and complement the existing SKILLDRVN One-Make Race Series.
The SKILLDRVN Swift Pro-cup will be limited to 10 teams, with 3 teams already signed up. The three teams, which will race in the inaugural season next year, are Team Bendix Malaysia, Team Profimax and Team Ultra Racing. Brands are invited to join KRA’s Supporting Partners program, playing a part in the new Motorsports Eco-system, by having their own race team. Each team will start with a 1-car entry for 2026 season, and this can be expanded to up to 2 cars per team as the series progresses.
To be eligible to participate
To be eligible to participate in this series, a racer is required to undergo KRA’s core program – the SKILLDRVN Driver Development Program – and graduate by completing 3 rounds of SKILLDRVN Swift OMR race. He/she is also required to build a profile with some race wins and accumulate championship points in the SKILLDRVN Swift OMR Series. Once this is achieved, the racer will then be eligible to be drafted by a pro team. The draft will be conducted in January 2026.
“KRA plays the role of creating a succession series to give outstanding talent more race opportunities upon graduating. You can call this is a new branch within the Malaysian motorsports ecosystem that offers racing at a lower and more sustainable cost. Despite racing older model cars, the SKILLDRVN Swift Pro-cup promises to deliver close door-to-door racing, good racing manners and professional team representation. At the same time, the series also enables brands to be directly involved in racing in a more cost-effective way by owning their own team,” said KRA Principal and Chief coach, Kenny Lee.
KRA in Japan
Earlier this month, KRA Japan was launched as a franchise in collaboration with Fujii Engineering to provide a training program during the summer holidays in Japan. Fujii Engineering specializes in the manufacturing of racing cars and racing components, as well as the design and development of electric mobility solutions, next-generation vehicles, and even flying mobility systems.
KRA Japan adopts the same concept implemented by KRA in Malaysia, that is to form a new eco-system for grassroots racing. This serves as the foundation for motorsports and includes classroom sessions, simulator sessions as well as physical training. It’s the same training method that has proven to be able to speed up students’ learning and progress.
KRA Japan also offers short courses such as Track Day preparation training courses to provide proper education to newbie and young drivers. The academy will also be introducing the SKILLDRVN Driver Development Program and has identified an existing race series in Japan that offers fairness in car performance and demands good driving and racing manners, similar to SKILLDRVN Swift One Make Race series in Malaysia.
Also offered is the SKILLDRVN Driver Development Program that provides full guidance for beginners to drive on the circuit, training academically and physically towards being able to compete as a racer. This includes continuing to provide guidance and mentoring as new racers start their debut season.
“KRA Japan will help to connect Malaysian talents to Japan. Japan is highly regarded as the leading motorsports country in Asia and from my own personal experience competing in Japanese Super Endurance races between 2017 – 2019, it had helped to expose me to not only their racing culture, technical and sporting standard but also enhanced racing ethics. It is the dream of many racers to compete in the historic circuits across Japan,” he said.
Besides expanding its academy activities to other circuits in Japan in coming years. KRA is also optimistic of establishing more franchises within the Asian region as it now embarks to strengthen its Malaysian academy with ‘Train the Trainer’ programs.
“I believe that the KRA program offers a more structured and efficient approach to training. It helps young drivers build a clearer and more effective career path — enabling more of them to reach higher levels of success in the sport,” said Mitsuru Fujii, Director of Fujii Engineering. “Since this style of driver development does not yet exist in Japan, I strongly felt that it should be introduced here — and that’s what led me to establish KRA in Japan.”
Fujii said grassroots motorsports in Japan are relatively well-developed compared to other Asian countries with races such as karting, junior formula, and touring car events being held every week at circuits across the country.
“However, Japan is facing an aging and declining population, and the excitement seen in the 1990s — with over 100 entries in a single race — is no longer the norm. KRA Japan’s vision and objective is to create an ecosystem. Motorsports is generally a game where money is spent — and unfortunately, in most cases, that money does not return. However, the concept behind KRA — building and nurturing an ecosystem — offers a fundamentally different and more sustainable approach,” he explained.
