Great news for fans of live motorsports as Sepang International Circuit (SIC) will be welcoming fans back to the grandstand for the start of the Malaysia Championship Series (MCS) 2021.
The much-awaited premier touring car race event will be held in a double-header format- with two rounds to be held over the three days of racing. MCS is a multi-category series, allowing motorsport teams and drivers will varying budget levels and experience to participate in a controlled and sanctioned atmosphere.
Chief Executive Officer of SIC, Azhan Shafriman Hanif said,” After a long break, we are thrilled to be hosting the Malaysia Championship Series with a double-header format. With the recent SOP relaxation in Phase 4, fans can opt to watch the race live at the main grandstand. However, we should be mindful of the SOP – facemask should be worn at all times and maintain social distance.”
Headlining the MCS 2021 is the Touring Production (TP) for production cars with 2.0-litre engine capacity where the FD2 Honda Civic Type-R is a piece of favoured machinery by many teams. The new Honda Civic Turbo (FC1) from R Engineering HMRT also continues to campaign this year after winning last year’s Merdeka Race 2020.
Malaysia Touring Car (M Production or MTC) is catered to modified production cars with an engine displacing up to 1,600 cc. In the MTC category, our regular commuters such as Proton Iriz and Honda Jazz are raced by factory teams such as Proton R3 and Honda Malaysia Racing Team. Expect plenty of action as the hot hatchbacks battle it out.
Next, come the recently added Stock Production 1 (SP1) and Stock Production 2 (SP2) for vehicles with engine capacities of 2,000 cc and 1,600 cc respectively. Similar to MTC, the SP2 category features many familiar hatchbacks such as the Proton Satria Neo and Suzuki Swift as well as the Toyota Vios Challenge machines from the Toyota Gazoo Racing Festival as they meet all the necessary technical and safety regulations.
For MCS 2021, the sporting regulation has been slightly amended. Instead of using ballast weights to reduce the chances of drivers dominating, an additional pit stop time of between 8 to 15 seconds is being applied. Podium cars (top 3) in Race 1 will have additional time added to the compulsory pit stop window of at least three minutes.
The main championship ballast remains, with the top three championship leaders after Round 1 (Race 1 and 2) requiring fitment of championship ballast for Race 3 and 4 in Round 2. Yokohama will continue to be the official tyre partner with BHPetrol as the official fuel partner for MCS 2021.
Fans of live motorsports can savour the noise engines and smell of burnt rubber as free entrance to the main grandstand is allowed for those that have been fully vaccinated. Facemasks must be worn at all times following the SOPs set by the government.
SIC will also be broadcasting the MCS 2021 Round 1 and 2 live from their Facebook page (link here). Key events from the three days of racing are as follows:
- 10th November
- 4:30 P.M. to 5:20 P.M.: Qualifying, 20 minutes each for the large capacity and small capacity categories
- 11th November
- 10:30 A.M. Race 1, Round 1
- 3:30 P.M. Race 2, Round 1
- 12th November
- 11:15 A.M. Race 3, Round 2
- 4:15 P.M. Race 4, Round 2
The championship continues with Round 3 and 4 scheduled to be on December 14th to 16th.
Note: Images are taken from Sepang International Circuit Social Media pages.
