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Thunder Asia Mosler Racing Gets Set For Merdeka Millennium Endurance RaceTim Sugden and Jazeman Jaafar Join Melvin Choo For MMER
Singapore, July 31, 2009 - The Thunder Asia Mosler Racing Team embarks on another challenge, at the 2009 12-hour Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race (MMER). The race is scheduled from August 6 to 8, 2009. The Thunder Asia Mosler Racing Team will be participating with their Mosler MT900R race car, after a recent run in the Super GT race at Sepang in June 2009. Further strengthening the team's effort in the MMER will be 2007 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Champion Tim Sugden and Malaysia's Jazeman Jaafar, sharing the driver's seat with Thunder Asia Racing's own Singaporean race car driver, Melvin Choo. Backed by the Mosler factory, the team's Mosler MT900R will sport a new Aero Package to suit the longer races. Mosler's engineers have used all the information from the team's sessions and previous races to further refine the drive characteristics of the car. Previous Super GT Experience During the Super GT, Melvin Choo and Mosler's works driver Martin Short qualified a respectable 8th out of 19 cars in the GT300 category. The team started off well during the first 4 laps of the race. On the 5th lap, a loss of power steering forced the car down to 5th position. More precious time was lost at the pitstop when the car refused to start due to a fuel pump failure. Despite the difficulties, the drivers pushed on to finish in 13th position in the GT300 race. "Disappointed, but what an experience! We have a very good car and were doing well before the power steering failed. Even then, we were still at the 5th position. It was when the fuel pump failed due to the heat, that we lost 5 laps due to the time spent repairing the car," says Mel of his Super GT race experience. "Gaining valuable experience from the Super GT race, we are more prepared for the coming race and I hope to become the first Singaporen driver to ever win the MMER!" added Choo during the Super GT in June 2009. "We've learnt a lot from our race in the Super GT," said Raja Zaini, team manager, Thunder Asia Racing. "Although we had some issues which drop our placing in the race, it was good to know that we had the pace earlier on, to run as high as second place in the GT300 category." Preparations for the MMER On their preparation for the longer and unforgiving MMER, the team has had encouraging pre-race tests, especially inspired with Choo's pairing with Sugden and Jazeman. "The first was to work on reliability by carrying out a high number of tests and I also wanted to make sure that the team mechanics were fully motivated before MMER. It is also important to complete the line-up with experienced drivers, which is why we have selected Tim Sugden and Jazeman Jaafar whose passion to win is as strong as Mel and everyone in the team," added Zaini. About Tim Sugden Tim Sugden is an accomplished racer with successes in both sprint and endurance races. Prior to winning the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia title in 2007, he was also voted as the Best Porsche Driver in 2005 in the series and continued the series in 2008 where he placed third overall. He had several second place finishes in endurance race such as the GT2 Class of the 2005 FIA GT, 2004 British GT Championship NGT Class and 2002 British GT Championship GTO Class. In 1998 Tim Sugden was the British GT Champion in the GT1 Class. About Jazeman Jaafar The 16-year old Jazeman Jaafar is currently racing in the Formula BMW Europe championship. He started karting at the age of six and was the 2007 Formula BMW Asia. He was the youngest driver to take part in the 2007 MMER competing in a Lotus Exige 300RR with Proton R3 Motorsports. About Melvin Choo Kwok Ming Melvin Choo (car number: 69) is the first Singaporean race driver to achieve a remarkable feat of chalking up 30 race participations in 2008, with a total of 7 victories, 8 podium finishes and 5 pole positions in three different cars, Aston Martin, BMW and Porsche, representing accomplishment through expertise. Becoming the Class B winner in the JPM Integra Championship in Malaysia, jumpstart his racing career in Asia in 2006. In 2007, Melvin took part in some of the most prominent races in Asia; FIA Asia Touring Car Series (FIA ATCS), where he finished second in Division 2 and third overall, FIA Asian Touring Car Cup, where he finished second overall and awarded the fastest front wheel driver and JPM Integra Championships, where he was third overall. 2008 is Melvin's breakthrough year where he successfully raced in four renowned high profile events in motorsports; FIA World Touring Car Championships (WTCC), FIA Asia Touring Car Series (ATCS), Aston Martin Asia Cup (AMAC), and Porsche Carrera Cup Asia. It is also the year he placed Singapore on the international map of car racing as the first and only South-East Asian to race at the FIA WTCC well known for its stringent qualifying process, and by achieving the rare task of scoring points in his debut FIA WTCC race in Okayama, Japan. About Thunder Asia Racing Thunder Asia Racing is an experienced racing team with a portfolio of more than 10 years of major race participation and more than 72 racing vehicles built to date. The team has participated in 4 of the highest profile race events in Asia, with 3 of the most prolific racing cars in the world (BMW, Aston Martin, and Porsche). The race drivers' cumulative experience totals more than 100 years between them, and has 32 race wins of 52 races throughout the 10 years of competition. The team has past involvements with factory teams for Honda, Proton, and Lotus. 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