THREE NEW CHAMPIONS HEADLINE THE END OF SEASON 8 OF THE VIOS CHALLENGE

Season 8 of the Toyota GAZOO Racing Malaysia VIos Challenge drew to a close with the crowning of three new overall champions amidst the backdrop of an intense and fiercely-fought two days of racing at the Petronas Sepang International Circuit.

“Congratulations to our new champions, all the drivers, teams and participating dealers who have been instrumental in making the Vios Challenge one of the most competitive one-make racing series in Malaysia. As with previous seasons, the battle for the championship title went all the way to the final race of the year and this underlines the competitiveness of the series which emphasizes on race craft and driving skills (the men behind the machines) in line with Toyota’s aspiration and pursuit in developing talent – both drivers and technical personnel – and using motorsports as an impactful platform to achieve this,” said Datuk Ravindran K., President of UMW Toyota Motor.

The battle to crown the new overall champion in the Super Sporting Class was the most intense over two final days of racing but in the end, the honors belonged to Telagamas Toyota’s Freddie Ang who clinched his first every championship in eight seasons of competing.

“We’ve been trying to do this for eight straight seasons and finally, we won the elusive championship. It took us a while to do it but we finally got it! I would also like to thank Telagamas Toyota for continuing to believe in us throughout the past eight seasons – without their support we would not be here today,” said Ang who took home RM80,000 in prize money and eventually ended the season with 163 points, 13 points clear of runner-up Team Prima Pearl SP Selatan’s Mitchell Cheah who was denied of the opportunity to win his second consecutive overall title.

Known as “Mr Consistent” in the series, Ang had finished 3^rd in 2024, 7^th in 2023, 4^th in 2022, 4^th in 2021 and 3^rd in 2020.

Going into the final round of the championship Ang had been eight points behind Cheah. Ang finished 5^th in Race 1 and in a reverse grid format he started from 2^nd on the grid for Race 2, five positions ahead of Cheah. Ang subsequently used this advantage to win Race 2, with Cheah finishing a distant 8^th in a 30-minute battle on the 2.609km South Track of the Petronas Sepang International Circuit.

“We had a big advantage starting from the front of the grid in Race 2 and just kept my head down and did what needed to be done to stay ahead of him (Cheah) in the race. Every season has been a difficult journey for me, including this one where we retired from a race in Round 1 but we never gave up and I am extremely grateful that the odds were in our favour this time.”

Finishing third in the championship was Laser Motor Racing’s Ady Rahimy who won Race 1 and finished 10^th in Race 2. He ended the season with 119 points.

The honors in the Sporting Class meanwhile, went to former Rookie Class driver Jwan Hii of Hong Huat X Armada KK Racing. Hii went into the final round of racing with a huge margin of 41 points ahead of his nearest rival – BAE Racing by ES Yang’s Elson Lew, also a former Rookie Class driver, and Kulim Topwheels’s Dato’Dr Ken Foo.

Two 4^th place finishes in Race 1 and Race 2 were enough to consolidate his position for the championship and he won it with a massive 167 points – 47 points clear of Foo who eventually rallied into the runner-up position, with Lew concluding Season 8 in 3^rd place.

“It’s been a really tough journey for me coming back to the motorsports scene especially after a four-year hiatus upon graduating from the Toyota GAZOO Racing Malaysia Young Talent Development Program. I never expected to return to a very strong season and I am very happy with how things turned out,” said 23-year-old Hii who was making his debut in the Sporting Class.

“As champion it now means that I will be moving up to compete in the Super Sporting Class next season and that will be a whole different ballgame with an even more experienced grid of racers. It will be a tough one but I’ll be sure to give it my all.”

In the Rookie Class for young and new drivers, it was Justin Rahul Dev who raised above the challenges to be crowned the new Rookie champion.

Going into the final round of the season, the title could have gone to any four drivers – Justin, Ian James, Aydan Khaliq and Harkiesh Geeva.

“Right from the get go I always knew that I had the pace and what it takes to fight for the championship – but back then it was a lot of ego-based. I set the standards so high for myself and I benchmark myself against the other young Malaysian professional drivers to understand what it takes to perform at their level,” said the 21-year-old simulator racer who with the win, will now be looking for a drive to move up and compete in the Sporting Class for Season 9.

“I hope to be able to get a seat in the Sporting Class for Season 9. Moving forward, I want this to be a long-term project for myself. I’d like to hopefully become one of the more successful drivers transitioning from simulator racing to real life racing. I’ll definitely be investing a lot more time into racing, both on track and on the simulators, improve on my fitness and work to develop my social media footprint. For a driver to become great – and this is proven with all the all-time great drivers – one must devote 100% of himself to racing and that is precisely what I intend to do.”

Finishing 2^nd place in the Rookie Class was Ian, while Harkiesh, Aydan and the only lady driver in the class Genevieve Ooi rounded up the remaining three positions respectively.

You can get in on all the past action by following Toyota GAZOO Racing Malaysia on social media for live updates, race highlights, and behind-the-scenes content: