The Toyota Gazoo Racing Festival Vios Challenge returns for its seventh season this weekend, August 9 to 11 at the Petronas Sepang International Circuit, where the one-make series will feature the latest iteration of the Vios race car based on the current-generation NGC102 production car that made its Malaysian debut in March 2023.
A total of six races over three rounds will form the upcoming Season 7 of the Vios Challenge, with all upcoming rounds of the season to take place at PSIC. The first round this weekend will be run concurrently with the Malaysian Championship Series, and the next running of the Vios Challenge will be held on September 27 to 29. The third and final round of Season 7 will be held on January 3 to 5, 2025.
Categorisation of racers is now comprised of the Sporting and Super Sporting classes for amateur and professional racers respectively, as well as the Rookie category for promising young talent. The Promotional class for local celebrities now no longer part of the roster for the upcoming Vios Challenge series.
As the curtain draws for some, it opens for others, and Season 7 of the Vios Challenge will be joined by international racers, including Panithan Rakpaibulsombut from Thailand, and Daniel Inosuke Ooi from Singapore.
The Toyota Gazoo Racing Festival Vios Challenge continues to be a hotbed of rising talent for Malaysian four-wheel racers, as Season 7 also welcomes the fourth batch of competitors in the Rookie category.
From a pool of 24 graduates from the Gazoo Racing Young Talent Development programme, six drivers will contest the Rookie class this season, and these are recreational karters Amirul Afiq, Kingston Tan and Brandon Ho, pro karters Adam Mikail and Audrey Leong, and simulator racing driver Raja Amirul, who was discovered through the Toyota GR GT Cup Campur Tour 2023.
The driver development programme by Toyota for its young racing drivers has shown endurance, with past Rookie category drivers and winners Putera Adam, as well as brothers Naquib and Nabil Azlan now contesting the Super Sporting class for professional racers in the Vios Challenge.
The Super Sporting category for Season 7 will continue to be contested by three-time Vios Challenge champion Tengku Djan Ley Tengku Mahaleel, defending class champion Mitchell Cheah, along with regular big hitters including Eddie Lew, William Ho, Tom Goh and Freddie Ang, plus Bradley Benedict, Ady Rahimy, and Aman Nagdev from India.
For the Sporting category featuring amateur racers, this will see the return of regulars on the Vios Challenge grid including Ken Foo, Kenneth Koh, Dannies Ng, Shafiq Samsudin, Ricky Tan and Lim Chun Beng. This category will also be joined by Rookie class graduates Elson Lew, Amirul Haikal, Timothy Yeo and Ashen Arumugan.
The first round for Season 7 of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Festival Vios Challenge will be broadcast live through Toyota Gazoo Racing Malaysia social media platforms, including YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
It will be a racing-packed schedule at the Petronas Sepang International Circuit this weekend, with the Vios Challenge also joined at the venue by the Malaysia Championship Series (MCS), the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia one-make series, and TSS The Super Series by B-Quik featuring GT3, GTM and GT4-class racers.
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