Toyota Vios Challenge Season 7 is back, 3 rounds all at Sepang International Circuit

For Gazoo Racing fans, the waiting game has ended. The event is back for a new season, and this year, it will feature the Toyota Vios Challenge. The series will consist of three rounds and six individual races, beginning this weekend at Petronas Sepang International Circuit.

This time, the race series will also showcase participation from Singaporean, Thai, and Indian racers with a bigger prize pool, totalling RM630,000 across three classes (Sporting, Super Sporting, TGR Rookie).

The opening round of the Toyota Vios Challenge will run from 9 to 11 August, concurrently with the Malaysia Championship Series (MCS). Meanwhile, round 2 is scheduled for 27 to 29 September 2024. The first two rounds will not be open to the public, but race enthusiasts can still watch via live streams on all of Toyota Gazoo Racing Malaysia’s social media channels.

But the good news for fans who still want to watch the Grand Finale is that it will be open to the public, as it will be held from 3 to 5 January 2025 at the Petronas Sepang International Circuit.

Returning to the Super Sporting Class in Season 7 includes former three-time overall champion Tengku Djan Ley Tengku Mahaleel, defending class champion Mitchell Cheah and big guns in Malaysian racing who include Eddie Lew, William Ho, Tom Goh and Freddie Ang.

The Super Sporting Class will also see the participation of young drivers Putera Adam, brothers Naquib and Nabil Azlan – all three of whom were former Rookie Class drivers and champions -, Bradley Benedict, Ady Rahimy, Aman Nagdev from India.

The Sporting Class meanwhile will see familiar names like Dato’ Dr Ken Foo, Kenneth Koh, Dannies Ng, Shafiq Samsudin, Ricky Tan, and Lim Chun Beng return to the grid. Also joining will be young drivers Elson Lew, who was last year’s Rookie Class runner-up, Amirul Haikal, and Ashen Arumugan. Competing in the Toyota Vios Challenge for the first time will also be Panithan Rakpaibulsombut from Thailand and Singaporean Daniel Inosuke Ooi.

The newest batch of TGR Rookies who will be joining the Toyota Vios Challenge Season 7 will be the fourth intake of young drivers who have graduated from the Gazoo Racing Young Talent Development Program. A total of 24 young drivers - including the latest six drivers who will race in the Rookie Class - have since graduated from the program which is aimed at allowing talented drivers to step into saloon car racing. The Rookie drivers include 22-year-old recreational karter Brandon Ho, 18-year-old pro karter Adam Mikail, 22-year-old recreational karter Amirul Afiq, 17-year-old pro karter Audrey Leong, 21-year-old simulator racer Raja Amirul (talent discovered from Toyota GR GT Cup Campus Tour 2023); and 19-year-old recreational karter Kingston Tan.

“Our involvement from the very beginning has been with the objective of contributing to Malaysian motorsports and we have embarked on numerous initiatives over the past six seasons. This included bringing motorsports to the masses via street racing circuits; making the series more accessible to participants in the form of retaining the one-make race format; establishing the series as the most lucrative racing event in Malaysia; and introducing the Toyota GR Young Talent Development Program for young drivers who are transitioning from karting and simulator racing to saloon car racing,” said UMW Toyota Motor President, Datuk Ravindran K.

“Toyota is equally pleased that the series has immensely contributed towards producing a new generation of talented drivers who have since progressed to the higher classes of racing both domestically and abroad,” he added.