Lady Rookies Gets First Taste of Night Practice

The first session of Sepang’s night practice sessions for the Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race (MME) 2008 last night received overwhelming response with the participation of more than 30 cars including the all-ladies RedBull Rookies Racing Team, which had their first taste night racing around the circuit.

Watched closely by trainers and MME regulars Phillipa Yoong and Hiroki Nakamura, the quartet of Puteri Ayu Jasmin, Norlina Johor, Norbaizura Ruslan and Leona Chin took turns in taking their Honda Integra DC2 race car around the track; putting to practice tips provided their learned trainers.

“Believe it or not, this is our first time driving around the circuit at night. Obviously, it’s very different from driving on the track in broad daylight … but it’s fun and exciting and we are all really looking forward for the race,” said the 25-year old event management executive.

Entering its ninth edition, the 2008 Merdeka Millennium Endurance race would be held on August 30; with the qualifying session to be held on the preceding day on August 29. Only 77 cars would be allowed to compete including 19 from Class B for cars between 1601cc and 1900cc which the RedBull Rookies Racing Team would be competing.

Selected from some 100 enthusiastic lady racers in the Red Bull Female Drivers Search programme last year, Puteri, Norlina, Norbaizura and Leona were put into an intensive advance driving programme since last August to compete in this year’s MME.

Conducted by Advanced Defensive Driving Academy (ADDA) run by prominent racer Kenvin Low and sponsored by RedBull, their programme included classroom tutorials, fitness training, enhancement of their driving skills, track training and participation in the Malaysian Super Series.

“It was great for a first attempt and definitely, I’m looking forward for more. I had fun; but there were a few turns where there were shadows that confused me … I thought I was already at the apex when actually it’s five or six feet away. It was a good experience,” Puteri said, adding that in general, they all took a cautious approach as it was more of a familiarization exercise last night.

In all, SIC had arranged 18 sessions for the free practice sessions including 10 sessions dedicated for night practices; with the final night session to be held on August 26, which is two days before the official free practice. The next night session would be next Monday (21 July); beginning from 6pm.

Apart from the RedBull rookies, the other teams that took opportunity from the first night practice session included two cars from Malka Racing Team from Johor Bahru, R2 Racing Team, Brother in Racing and several teams from Singapore.

Some 40 cars had already registered for the race and SIC is anticipating no less than 90 entries. The dateline for submission of entries is on August 15.

For further details, contact the Press Officer Azhar Ghazali at 019 3837865.