SEPANG: HI-REV Dream Chaser racing team achieved a long-awaited victory in the Sepang 1000 kilometres endurance race tonight.
Despite facing various issues throughout the race, Dream Chaser's Suzuki Swift - piloted by Hayden Haikal, Rahul Mayer and Daim Hishammudin - claimed the chequered flag in eight hours, 14 minutes and 25.894 seconds (181 laps) under the Sepang Circuit floodlights.
Wing Hin Motorsports' came in second in their Toyota Yaris (Wong Yew Choong-Ng Khai Ee) 2:38.590s adrift, while Tedco Racing's Honda FIT (Foo Yung Chieh-Freddie Ang-Yee Kok Jun-Goh Lee Heng) were third overall, a lap down.
Dream Chaser's Honda City (Fitra Eri-Aaron Haikal-Lee Wai Cong) crossed the line fourth (173 laps). All cars in the top-four were competing in the MTC class.
Honda Malaysia Racing Team's Honda City hatchback (Aaron Lim-Farriz Fauzy-Akash Neil had led earlier in the race but were forced to retire due to technical issues.
Team principal CY Ong said it was a meaningful victory for his team. They finished second last year.
"It feels surreal to win it after 10 long years of trying. We finished second and third a few times before so to finally take the win means a lot to the whole team," said CY.
"It was definitely not easy, we had a lot of ups and downs today with many mechanical issues.
"Our Swift made contact with a car from the SP2 class early in the race and we lost the headlights. We later had issues with the brake pads and towards the end started to get some sensor issues which affected our shifting.
"The City also had issues with the brake pads and had issues with the drive shaft as well.
"Thankfully, the boys' were able to bring home both cars."
BAE Racing Team's Honda Fit (Soon Chew Poh-Lew Kar Wai-Toh Cheng Kiat) were fifth (170 laps) overall and first in class in the SP2 G category.
Blackwolf Racing by BAE's Swift Sport (Tse Ka Hing-Kingston Tan) were 11th overall (168 laps) and first in the SP2 V category.
Sokudo Shenzo Racing Team (Teo Hong Zhou-Timothy Thomas Yeo) won the Toyota Vios class after coming in 32nd overall (163 laps).