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Hayden Haikal

Back-to-back class victories in the opening 2 rounds of the Idemitsu Super Turbo Championship were a great start to young Malaysian Hayden Haikal’s international racing campaign in Thailand this year. The 18-year-old put in maximum effort as he got the job done and gave the Malaysian Wing Hin Motorsports team its first two victories on its maiden appearance in Thailand.

This is Hayden’s second year competing in Thailand, his first appearance in the Idemitsu Super Turbo Championship, and also the first time that Wing Hin Motorsports is racing in Thailand.

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In his first international racing season, young Malaysian racer Hayden Haikal was forced to settle for overall 2nd place in the Thailand Super Eco series after experiencing a number of unfortunate setbacks. Trailing 20 points in the championship behind local hero Na Dol Vatanatham, Hayden needed to win the final two races, and for his nearest rival to finish out of the points in order to have a shot of becoming the overall champion.

Both drivers have been head-to-head in the championship, trading places on the podium throughout the six rounds going into the finale. The odds however, appeared stacked against Hayden from the beginning of the race weekend at the Chang International Circuit in Buriram, northeast of Bangkok.

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Young Malaysian racer Hayden Haikal will be putting in his strongest effort when he competes for the prospect of being crowned the overall champion in the Thailand Super Eco saloon car series at the Buriram Chang International Circuit located towards the northeast of the country.

With three 2nd places and two race wins in 6 rounds of racing so far, the 18-year-old is currently 2nd in championship and just 20 points behind Na Dol Vatanatham who has 105 points to his tally.

Both drivers have proven to be dominant in the series and their races results almost identical, but Vatanatham has the advantage of one extra race win as a result of Hayden’s misfortune in scoring any points in Round 2 due to a technical issue with his Honda Brio.

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TGR Festival Season 3

From the start line, I accelerate up to third gear before braking early at the 50-metre mark approaching the first left-hand corner. I swing the car to position it into the corner and as I exit, I am very close to the wall.

Still on full throttle, I come up to the second corner which is also a left hander but immediately after that, there is a right-hander for Turn 3 in which I must brake and downshift to second gear. From here, I just half-throttle until I reach Turn 4.

I get on the throttle right at the apex of Turn 4 which takes me to the long back straight where I can hit about 140 km/h to 150km/h in fourth gear. Just before the end of the long straight, there is a chicane which requires me to brake at the 50-metre marker board before flicking the car right and then left – without lifting off the throttle.

After getting through the chicane, I am charging towards a right U-turn where I brake early at the 70-metre marker and downshift from fourth gear to second gear, meet the apex and throttle out again exiting as close to the wall as possible.

This takes me to another long straight and again in fourth gear before braking at the 50-metre marker board and downshifting to third gear to prepare for a left turn. I exit on full throttle to prepare for a high-speed left corner in third gear before swinging the car right which takes me to the final corner and back to the Start-Finish line.

Bandar Malaysia

It’s a very interesting track and there are a lot of long straights. There are also some tight corners and that brings out the technical aspect of the track. Bandar Malaysia is definitely the fastest street circuit on the Toyota Vios Challenge calendar and while this is exciting, it also means that if you brake too late or make any mistakes, the consequences can be extremely severe.

Visit Toyota GAZOO Racing Malaysia to know more about the second round of the Toyota GAZOO Racing Festival & Toyota Vios Challenge this weekend.

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