2015 KL City Grand Prix – Recapitulation of the roaring event

Kuala Lumpur: The high octane roaring streets of Kuala Lumpur City from the past three days culminated with a huge fireworks on Sunday night. It was the inaugural 2015 KL City Grand Prix, set against capital’s iconic backdrops and enhanced by the presence of its symbolic Petronas Twin Towers.

KL's first ever Grand Prix was a huge subject of excitement for the city this weekend and gave Malaysians sound memories to talk about for a while. The event was attended by an estimated audience of 250,000 during the three days. This proved to be a huge success marking KL City GP to be the start of a new annual event. The race was flagged off on Friday with 16 drivers pumped up with adrenaline maneuvering through the KL city streets, negotiating the wet roads and rough bends in 25 laps of a 3.2km circuit. The Grand Prix surmised of four different events including the flagship KL City GT Cup, Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia, V8 Supercars and Formula Masters China Series.

KL City GT Cup Japan’s Naoki Yokomizo had the honour of taking the first place podium in the inaugural KL GT City Cup, the flagship race of the KL City Grand Prix. Naoki Yokomizo covered the track in 40 minutes grabbing the checkered flag in his GTM class Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo LP620, while our very own Formula 1 test driver Fairuz Fauzy managed to finish second in his loaned OD Racing Super Trofeo Lamborghini Huracan. Fairuz Fauzy, despite going through a harsh qualifying round and starting from the back of the grid took a lead ahead of Craft Bamboo Racing’s Frank Yu, who placed third position in his Ford GT3.  Australian Josh Hunt depleted the competition, as he was forced to withdraw because his hot wheels Mercedes SLS GT3 unfortunately, suffered a brake failure. He earlier scored a pole position in the qualifying round.

Although, the crash on Saturday’s qualifying session involving Malaysian driver Fairuz Fauzy flamed the adrenaline rush in the spectators of the race, giving them a Final Destination nostalgia. The Super Trofeo Lamborghini driver lost control over his shining Lamborghini Gallardo at one of the 16 turns and collided into a wall but was uninjured. There was not enough time to repair the car, which could lead to the elimination of the Malaysian hero, but Automobili Lamborghini agreed to loan a Huracan to the OD Racing Team driver. Fairuz repaid the faith by finishing second, 36 seconds behind the Direction racing driver Naoki Yokomizo.

Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia The super trofeo series started with a big bang for the Malaysians as their own Afiq Yazid succeeded the time trail in both the qualifying sessions on Friday. Although, the foreigners who stayed low in qualifying rounds got a fair idea about the track and pipped Yazid in the final event. Kazuki Hiramnine and Anthony Liu/Davide Rizzo shared the spoils in the two Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia Series races at the KL City GP. While, Hiramine succeded Yuan Bo/Edoardo Liberati by just 0.8s in the opening race of the event on the streets of the Malaysian capital, Japan’s Toshiyuki Ochiai poled third with 4.8s lag. Anthony Liu / Davide Rizzo held back Ochiai in Race 2 submiting a record victory by 0.913s, with the Dilantha Malagamuwa/Armaan Ebrahim coming at a third position.

V8 Supercars The 35-year-old Australian from the Nissan Motorsports, Todd Kelly came out to be the winner at the showcase event of V8 Supercars Street Challenge. The Nissan Motorsports racer covered the race a shade ahead in his Nissan Teana beating the New Zealander Scott McLaughlin in his Volvo. While, the third position was gained by another Australian, Will Davison in his Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG with a time of 17:20.520s.

Todd Kelly grabbed the chequered flag in a 12-lap showcase event with a time of 17 minutes and 19.783 seconds in his Nissan Teana which was just hairline difference of 0.279 then the New Zealander McLaughlin. The Nissan Motorsports team managed well to hold off Volvo Polestar Racing driver and took the honours being the best in this event. This challenge successfully ended the showcase of V8 Supercars in KL City Grand Prix- from next year we will witness a full-blown championship round of V8 Supercars series being held here.

Formula Masters China Series The Estonian racing driver Martin Rump was the championship leader in this Formula Masters China Series round at the KL City Grand Prix finishing first on the podium completing 10 laps in a 14:47:343. Rump was followed by another Australian James Parsons in the Sunday’s final race finishing second at 14:51:971, which was just a 0.210 second lead from the Absolute racing driver Alessio PICARIELLO crossing the flag at third pole. Parsons’ results came after a retirement in Saturday’s opening race, as he hit a wall while occupying the second spot. The Formula Masters China Series now heads to China’s Zhuhai Circuit for the penultimate round of the championship from September 18-20.

The thrills of this mega event accentuated as it reached to the farewell party at KLCC Park from 6.30pm until 11.30pm, which featured an astounding fireworks blended with performances by local and international artists like Dasha Logan, Kayda, Kyoto Protocol, DJ Twinkles, Dennis Lau, Michael Leaner and Radio 3000.

GT Global Race, the official organisers of the KL City Grand Prix came out after the event apologizing for the issues, although being happy with the way the whole event ran. They also confirmed that the preparations for next year’s edition has actually begun today. As they will do a complete post-mortem on the event and map out the loopholes and tweak the plans for next year accordingly.

The organisers and the tourism board was especially happy as spectator attendance was significantly higher than what was predicted, with a crowd of about 250,000 reportedly present for the event. The organisers were confident and excited to receive more sponsorships next year.

Kudos to Kuala Lumpur for pulling through this successful event!

Check out the official highlights, if you have missed any action: