We’ve been awaiting details about the Japanese Super GT championship’s return to Malaysia for a while now, but with the launch of the Super GT Malaysia Festival 2020 yesterday, we finally know the dates. Round 5 of the championship is set to take place on July 16 to 19 at the Sepang International Circuit – six years after the country last hosted a race – right after the only other overseas leg in Buriram, Thailand.
As we’ve previously reported, the Malaysian round will be the first in the series’ history to be held at night, which will not only bring a new spin to the race format, but also gives Super GT the opportunity to market the series to Western audiences, according to organiser GT Association (GTA) chairman Masaaki Bandoh.
Haro Sports & Entertainment is the rights holder and promoter for the race, which will be a major part of the Visit Malaysia 2020 calendar. The company will also be the rights holder for Super GT content for all countries outside of Japan and Thailand.
“Super GT racing continues to be a huge crowd puller worldwide and especially in Malaysia,” said Haro managing partner Fahrizal Hasan. “We thought long and hard about how to make it better and realised that a night race would present teams and drivers with a unique challenge, in addition to racing under extreme heat and unpredictable weather conditions.”
Fahrizal also announced two Malaysian wildcard entries that will race in Sepang, one of which will see Jazeman Jaafar and Datuk Adrian da Silva pair up in a Porsche 911 GT3 R in the GT300 class. The latter features both bespoke race cars and GT3 machinery, while the top GT500 consists of touring cars similar to the German Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) as part of the adoption of Class 1 regulations.
Tickets range from the RM100 for the K1 Grandstand to RM250 for the Main Grandstand and RM2,000 for the GT Club Paddock, although early birds can now purchase tickets from just RM80 for the K1 Grandstand and RM200 for the Main Grandstand. Children aged five to 12 as well as all ticket holders bringing at least one child from that age group will also be able to take part in a kids’ pit walk session on Thursday.
Customers will also be able to purchase Experience, Ultimate and Dream packages, all of which come with a GT Club Paddock ticket, a taxi ride around the circuit, a pit walk tour and a circuit safari experience where viewers can watch cars zooming past in close proximity from a moving bus. The Ultimate and Dream packages also include a grid walk before the race proper on Saturday.
Fans from Asia and Europe will also be able to enjoy special flight and hotel accommodation packages through Malaysia Airlines, with Enrich members also benefitting from race ticket discounts. Ticket holders will also stand a chance to win a Toyota GR Supra by predicting the outcome of the race.
There will also be an outdoor automotive expo in the open Mall area held in partnership with Art of Speed, with displays from carmakers, automotive brands, aftermarket specialists, lifestyle products, car clubs and enthusiasts. Sepang was Super GT’s first international venue, with an exhibition race held there in 2000 and 2001; it was a regular points-paying championship round from 2002 to the last race in 2013.
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BMW Z4 owners will laugh at this overpriced cheapo clone.
Both companies got so much confidence in each other, they dare to share their high quality engines with each other.
Will you ever see a BMW engine in a Proton ever? Even Ssangyong can use Mercedes engine
So malu for a 100 year old company to be using another brand engine. What were their engineers and R&D doing all this time? Lazy, tidur goyang kaki, minum sake 8x a day? If I were a Toyota fanboy I would be so malu to tell the whole world someone else did the job but I am taking credit for it. Malu malu malu malu tau.
I better pay much less and buy BMW Z4 the ori car and not a cheap knockoff. Even jockeys will rush to take in my car while they point Supra owners towards the general parking lot.
Actually many car reviewers say the Supra is a much more improved version. The carwow test on YT between the 2 cars shows that the Supra is faster too.
Just because it is faster because it is lighter by removing all that BMW luxury fittings, doesn’t make it a better car. A Wiralution can outrun Supra, does it make it a better car than Supra?
No more Japanese umbrella girls in bikini tops? Oh my… missed those days.
Jepunis kata itu dah haram
GP umbrella women in hazmat suits?