Lotus Supercup Asia Rd 3 & 4 – Race leader penalized due to costly miscalculation
At any level you can think of, motorsports is an expensive business. Even when you go down to basics in events such as autocrossing, you still have to spend a decent sum of money to pay for participation fees, car modifications, or if you’re modest, just to maintain the car at tip-top mechanical condition.
There are efforts by many parties to bring costs down in motorsports, but when they say ‘affordable’, it still rarely means ‘cheap’. Earlier this year, Lotus Cars Malaysia got into a technical partnership with Aylezo Motorsports to provide the public access to a relatively affordable form of motorsports – the Lotus Supercup Asia.
What goes on is that participants who sign up for this race gets to compete in an FIA-sanctioned one-make Lotus race series in Malaysia. Participants will race in a Exige S 240hp car prepped by Aylezo, and the purchase price of RM387k for the vehicle includes the car, tyres for each round and entrant fees. If you top up a bit more money, Aylezo will even supply you with a support crew. Lotus Cars Malaysia serves a consultant role and provides technical support in each race.
The first two rounds of the series took place at the Sepang International Circuit on 27-28 May 2011 in conjunction with the Asian Festival of Speed. The next two rounds were once again held at the SIC last month as support races for Super GT.
Championship leader Tan Wei Ron, having won the first two rounds, picked up where he left off in Round 3 with a pole-to-flag win, leaving Othman Yahaya and Bruce Lee (no, not the late actor) to scrap for 2nd and 3rd place. Othman won that particular battle thanks to a momentary laps of focus by Bruce. Right behind them were Chiew Rouh Peng, who was practically racing alone after lap 5 to scure a decent fourth place finish.
It was the same three podium finishers battling it out in Round 4, as Wei Ron, Bruce and Othman were constantly swapping orders, drafting down straights and braking late into corners. The fun was spoiled late on, however, as Wei Ron was slapped with a drive through penalty after leaving the pits a second too early for GT Asia pitstop rules.
Wei Ron still leads the championship, but mistake was caused by a miscalculation on the part of the Aylezo pit crew assigned to support him for the race. Wei Ron rejoined the pack in fourth, but can only watch Othman take the chequered flag followed by Bruce and Chiew in 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
In an unusual but highly commendable gesture, Aylezo took the effort to issue a public apology to Wei Ron, his family and friends as well as his supporters who attended the event. Mr Andrew Windebank, Sporting and Technical Director for Aylezo Motorsports said, “Wei Ron was completely calm about this unfortunate situation and behaved in a most mature, sporting and professional way. This reflects well upon his abilities as a sportsman, a highly motivated and skilled competitor, and as a well rounded person.”
Making no excuses for his team, however, Windebank added, “However, this situation should not have arisen in the first place and, as a professional Organisor, Aylezo Motorsports must take the blame for this, learn the lessons involved, and ensure that it is never repeated.”
Pictures: Official Aylezo release.
