Thunder Asia Mosler Racing Team makes valiant effort at Super GT Round 4 in Sepang

The Thunder Asia Mosler Racing Team, featuring Singapore's own Melvin Choo, and Martin Short who was co-driving the Mosler MT900R, had an eventful weekend at the Super GT Round 4, held in Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia from June 19th to 21st, 2009. The debut of the team at the Round 4 race finished at a respectable 13th position despite mechanical failures due to the heat.

Clocking a best time of 2'11.771 in the qualifying rounds (8th position), the Thunder Asia Mosler team started off in a good position (reaching 2nd position), during the first 4 laps of the race. At the 5th lap, a loss of power steering forced the car to a 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 at 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," said Melvin Choo, co-driver, Thunder Asia Mosler Racing team.

"We came in 13th position and this is fine for our first attempt. We learnt a lot to be applied towards future races, and we will be working extra hard to solve the challenges for the next race."

"From a manufacturer's perspective, this is the hottest race we have ever done. The ambient heat of 33 degree Celsius and high humidity was unbelievable. Within the car, temperature was over 40 degree Celsius," says Martin Short, co-driver, Thunder Asia Mosler Racing Team.

"All in all, it was a fantastic experience for us to develop solutions for the problems arising due to overheating. We will be working on all the issues back in the factory, from power steering, air-conditioning, water temperature, to fuel pumps, and we are confident of adapting our car to compete in a very hot environment."

"On a positive note, the experience was an encouraging one. For a first attempt in the Super GT driving a Mosler, we are proud to have finished the race, and to be on pace and on par with the renowned Super GT race cars and drivers, despite our challenges. The only drawback was mainly due to mechanical faults which can be easily fixed with experience," says Raja Norzaini, Thunder Asia team manager.

[IMG]http://www.oneshift.com/showroom/uploadimages/resized-20090623222805707.jpg[/IMG]
[I]Melvin Choo of the Thunder Asia Mosler Racing Team[/I]

Credits: JRC