TOYOTA GR Vios Challenge Season 8 – Round 1

Round 1 of the 2025 TOYOTA GR Vios Challenge concluded with some mighty fierce on-track action which saw the younger generation of racers outpacing the accomplished veterans.

The opening round of the year saw a total of 36 racers, including one each from Thailand and Singapore, competing in 3 individual classes of racing: Super Sporting for professional drivers; Sporting for amateurs; and Rookie for young drivers from TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Malaysia’s Young Talent Development Program.

In Race 2 (Race 1 was run the day before) of the Sporting Class, it appeared that seasoned driver Dato’ Ken Foo was going to hold off the field of charging young guns but that was not to be the fairy tale story for the Kulim Topwheels driver. Foo only managed to hold on to his race lead for 3 of the 20 laps around half of the PETRONAS Sepang International Circuit before coming under severe attack.

Leading from pole position, Foo had a great start but behind him, a number of young drivers (BAE Racing by ES Yang’s Elson Lew; Axle Sports’ Brandon Ho; S&D Tama Motorsports’ Mika Hakimi; G-Mart Motorsport’s Adam Mikail; TD Racing’s Raja Amirul Syauqat; Saksama Motorsports’ Taj Izrin Aiman; and Thai driver Monai driving for RUK Team Nexzter PMC 52) had him in their sights.

On Lap 3, Ho passed Foo for the lead but his position at the front was short-lived after being dragged into a situation involving 5 cars which dropped him into the midfield. That incident returned the lead to Foo but only for another 5 laps until Lew and Taj Izrin – a newcomer better known in sim racing circles – shot past for the top 2 positions.

Lew held on to the lead until the chequered flag to win, but finished just 1.9 seconds ahead of Taj Izrin, with Ho eventually making his way back into contention to cross the finish line in third. Ho however, was later handed a post-race penalty for a sporting infringement which promoted Thai driver Monai into third place.

For Taj Izrin who completed his first ever one-make series saloon car race weekend with two podium finishes – a 3^rd place in Race 1 and 2^nd in Race 2 – the start of the season has been simply phenomenal and unexpected. He has been winning sim racing events such as the TGR GT Cup many times and it shows that sim racing can make one a better driver in the real world.

The professionals in the Super Sporting Class were also engaged in fierce and similar battle but eventually it was Prima Pearl TD Racing driver and former Super Sporting champion Mitchell Cheah who prevailed to take victory. Second place went to Wheelcorp’s Nabil Azlan who also made it two podium finishes in two races over the weekend (3^rd in Race 1), with Laser Motor Racing’s Eddie Lew clinching third.

Action on the track was almost reminiscent of that witnessed in the Sporting Class with celebrated veteran driver Lew only managing to hold on to the race lead for 8 laps before having to concede to the younger drivers behind.

With 2 full course yellow flags momentarily disrupting the session, Cheah and Nabil seized the opportunity to catch Lew off-guard to catapult into the top 2 positions. “We were good in practice and even during qualifying but when it came to Race 1, I suffered a technical issue and struggled to finish,” said Cheah.

“We managed to rectify the issue for Race 2 and it was great to start from 8^th on the grid and climb all the way to the top to give the team the result they truly deserved. I am just as determined to do my very best to win the overall championship for the second time. I still have a very long way to go this season so we’ll see how it goes.”

The battle of the Rookie Class meanwhile, saw sim racer Ian James storm to victory from the start to finish more than 13 seconds ahead of 18-year old karter, Aydan Khaliq who collected his second successive second place win over the weekend. 20-year old Genevieve Ooi, the only female in the class this year, rounded off the top three places.

The next round of the TOYOTA GR Vios Challenge one-make race will be held at the PETRONAS Sepang International Circuit on June 27/28, 2025. Round 3 will be held in August and the closing round will be in October.