TWO TO FOUR - Championship Winning Superbike Team To Campaign In Car Endurance Racing For The First Time

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With a mixed team of drivers, winning superbike set-up Pineapple Motor Sports knows that the odds will be against them at the 2008 Petronas Primax 3 Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race as it will be the first time that they have entered in a four-wheel race and will pit themselves against top class drivers and powerful racing machines for the 12-hour endurance race in Sepang come 28 to 30 August.

Tommy Lee

However, among the three drivers to the team, Pineapple Motor Sports have managed to secure and field seasoned driver and three-time Merdeka Millennium Endurance (MME) Race winner Tommy Lee as part of the team. Lee, a familiar face in local and regional car races, will lead the team in the endurance-prepared Porsche 997 GT3 RS Cup Car.

The other two drivers will be Pineapple Motor Sports team principal, former MSS bike racer and JPM Integra Cup driver Ahmad Razlan Ahmad Razali and Australian biking ace and 2007 MSS motorcycle champion Brent Odgers. Both drivers have minimal experience in car endurance racing but are confident that they will do well in the Porsche with Tommy Lee at the helm.

Brent Odgers

Lee, who is also a qualified Porsche instructor, has shared his vast MME racing experiences and other fine points of racing with Ahmad Razlan and Odgers during the past few weeks. “The odds maybe against us, but our (the team’s) objective is to qualify and finish the race. Any other results is a bonus for us,” said Pineapple Motor Sports team principal and driver Ahmad Razlan.

Razlan Razali

Ahmad Razlan said the team had considered campaigning other types of performance cars to boost their challenge for the ninth edition of the MME this year; but eventually decided to try their luck in the Porsche 997 GT3 RS Cup Car. “With the Porsche and Tommy’s experience, I believe that we can motivate ourselves to fully complete the race and maybe even mount a challenge to the other teams,” he said, adding that this time will also see the Pineapple Motor Sports Team, that has been successful in superbike racing, develop into car racing for the first time.

While Tommy Lee is considered as an international class racer with experience competing in the top classes of the MME and also the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia, Ahmad Razlan has only plied his skills at the 2006 JPM Integra Cup Series in the Malaysian Super Series (MSS). However, being a keen motorcyclist and, at present, a successful motorcycle race team owner he has dabbled in several rounds of MSS motorcycle racing in the past. Odgers on the other hand has been successful in the MSS motorcycle series where he has been crowned 2003 and 2007 overall champion.

“This is our first time three of us are racing together as a team and we believe that we have the machine that could help finish the race for us,” said Ahmad Razlan in reference to their participation for the 12-hour race. On a personal note, he added that this year’s participation has somehow re-ignited his passion for motor racing after three consecutive years of failed attempts to participate in the MME.

A total of 98 cars had already registered for the race including 21 from Class O, which included the defending champion Hong Leong Kencana Racing Team featuring Mokhzani Mahathir, Sven Herberger and Lars Erik Nielsen as their drivers in their Porsche 997 RSR and two race cars from Japan Super Taikyu Series.

Class A for production cars above 1900cc has so far 27 confirmed entries which Class B (for cars between 1600cc and 1900cc) and Class C both had secured 25 entries each. With the circuit license only permitting a maximum of 77 cars to start the race, the organizers had set a quota of 20 cars each for Class O and A; 19 for Class B and a maximum of 18 cars for Class C.

Interested teams and drivers have until August 27 to submit their entries and last year, a total of 103 registered for the race. The official free practice had been set for August 28 and qualifying to be held on August 29.