SEPANG, May 14, 2010: The Sepang International Circuit will be hosting the Sepang 1000km Endurance Race, or popularly known as the S1K from June 3 to 5.

This year, the deadline for registration of entry for S1K is on May 24, 2010.  

First introduced to the Malaysian motorsports last year, the S1K is a spin-off from the Merdeka Millenium Endurance Race (MMER).

“The S1K is like a stepping stone for newcomers to the racing world and for inexperienced teams before they can take part in the MMER,” said SIC chief executive officer Razlan Razali.

The MMER is the most competitive endurance race in South East Asia, with professional drivers and ex-motoring car drivers taking part in the race.

As the MMER gains popularity over the years, more big budgeted teams with faster and more powerful cars enters the race, and the smaller, less powerful cars were left behind.

“We decided to introduce the S1K to allow more people to participate in motorsports. We had always reached the maximum grid capacity in the MMER, and many people were left out because they could not qualify,” said Razlan.

“There were also concerns with regards to safety. The speed difference between the bigger cars and the smaller cars grew quite vast over the years, and so it became more dangerous for the racers.

“There were quite a few accidents involving the smaller capacity cars and the more powerful ones. So the S1K was introduced to provide a more level playing field, catering to production cars below 1900cc.”

SIC has set a maximum of 77 cars to start the race, with the quota set at 38 cars for Class 1 (cars between 1601cc to 1900cc) and 39 for Class 2 (cars below 1600cc).

During its inaugural run last year, Soh Kee Koon, Wong Yew Choong and Tek Kean Kang from Team Type R 21 had dominated the S1K race, having managed to stay in the top four teams throughout the race in their Class 1 Honda Integra.

The team completed the race in 8 hours, 49:30.103. The trio were highly experienced drivers and have taken part in the MMER race. They have also been dominating other local races including the Malaysian Super Series (MSS).

Each car taking part in the S1K race must have a minimum of two and a maximum of four drivers, and the first team to complete 1000km will be declared as the winner.

The endurance race also requires the competitors to have a valid competition license issued by the Automobile Association of Malaysia or Motorsports Association of Malaysia for circuit racing.

Participants will have to register on June 3, and will be allowed to hold their practice sessions after their registration. The qualifying rounds will be held on June 4 and the race will be held on June 5.

A team can register as many entries or cars as they like but one driver can only race in one car or class.

The first team to cross the finish line will be taking home RM30,000 (Class 1) and RM25,000 (Class 2).

“To date, we have had 22 teams register to take part in the race. I am uncertain as to just how many participants there will be due to the current economic conditions.

“But there’s still time before the deadline, and we would usually have a number of last minute entries. Hopefully we will have more entries compared to last year,” said Razlan.

The following official tires must be used by all competitors for the S1K the event: -

Supplier          :           Federal Tyres
Size                :           195/50R15 FZ201
Price               :           RM 350 per piece (inclusive of tire fitting service)

The tires will be available at the track starting from the first date of the Sepang 1000KM paid practice session i.e. 4th May 2010.

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