The KRS Motorsports Racing Team followed up their extensive testing program with BRM with their first big event in the karts. Afiq Ikhwan, Luqman Hakim, Calvin Seibl, Brendan Seibl, and Shirley Wong all took part in the 2011 Rotax Invitational event in BRM karts. Indonesian driver Silvano Christian was also racing with KRS using an Intrepid. The event was held at the Sepang International Karting Circuit in Malaysia last weekend.
The performance of the weekend went to Luqman in the MicroMax category as he improved from an 8th place position in qualifying to take the win in the final. Luqman crossed the line just ahead of Indonesian driver Presley Martono and while the two crossed the line in 4th and 5th a start penalty and two technical disqualifications for the top 3 meant that they moved up to the top of the podium. Singaporean driver Jon Lee rounded up the top 3.
In the Senior category Afiq and Calvin were driving the latest developments from BRM with Afiq’s prototype kart arriving just in time for the race featuring a non-painted frame. Afiq qualified in 5th with Calvin in 8th, while Silvano was 6th. When the final came around Afiq had a lot of work to do starting down the field in 15th after a crash in the pre-final, but he worked his way all the way to 5th place by the end with Silvano in 6th, and Calvin in 8th plave for his Senior debut.
Shirley Wong took BRM’s DD2 chassis to 4th place with some technical issues in the final preventing any better results.
Brendan Seibl made his debut in the Junior category having stepped up from multiple championships in MicroMax. Having qualified 12th in his group and 19th overall Brendan took 19th in the pre-final and 23rd in the final in the massive 49 kart Junior grid.
KRS will continue development with BRM on the chassis in order to move further up the field. The main challenge is adapting the karts to work in Malaysian conditions and with the Rotax engine. The next event is March.