Press Release
SINGAPORE, 7 APRIL 2012: Kartmaster Drakar Racing Team, a Singapore motorsports team, are gearing up for the new kart-racing season with a new line-up, new sponsors and ambitious plans.
With two championship-winning drivers, Opai Naufal and Jon Lee, leading the charge, the local side have added four more youngsters – Josh Lee, Santos Bala, Darryl Wenas and Andersen Marton° – to their stable of talented starlets.
Another veteran, Leon Khoo, 52, has joined to lend experience to the team.
The recruitment of Wenas and Marton° came following a merger between Drakar and renowned racing team Kartmaster last month. The merger marries the technical expertise of Kartmaster team principal, Roland Chong, with Drakar team principal Raymond Low, in a bid to elevate the new team to a higher plane.
The team will race under the banner of Kartmaster Drakar Racing Team in this year’s Singapore Karting Championship (SKC) and Asian Karting Open Championship (AKOC).
The merger has garnered the support of several private corporations for the Kartmaster Drakar Racing Team, including DHL, the world’s leading logistics provider.
“DHL has a long heritage of supporting international motorsports events. This sport is one that is close to our hearts and the spirit of motorsports, speed and precision resonates with DHL’s values. Motorsports has gained popularity in Singapore in recent years and we are excited to be one of the partners for the Kartmaster Drakar Racing team. All the best to the team and we hope that they will do the country proud and further grow the local motorsports scene,” said Herbert Vongpusanachai, Managing Director, DHL Express Singapore.
Buoyed by the technical and commercial boost, Kartmaster Drakar co-team principal Low also shared the team’s plans to, one day, become the nursery of talented young drivers in Singapore.
“Kart-racing is widely recognized as the foundation for any race driver. That’s where they learn their basics. To succeed in any form of racing, they must first have a strong grounding – and that can be gained from kart-racing,” explained Low.
“I am a proud and patriotic Singaporean, and it’s my hope to see a Singaporean race for our country on an international stage. And in my bid to see that come to fruition, we now provide a platform for young drivers to get their foundation right and give it a go.”
He added: “Becoming an Academy for young local drivers is something we want to work towards. Right now, we do not have the resources to do that. But yes, that’s our plan for the future.
“So we start now by putting the little bricks in place. That’s why we have drafted some of the best young drivers into our team, and also engaged the technical expertise of Roland, who is a well-respected veteran in the Asian motor-racing scene.
“We are wooing corporate partnerships to boost our resources so that we can provide more for our drivers. And now, as you can see, we are engaging the media to garner support from the public.
“To be the nursery of Singapore motor-racing is our future goal. We will be naïve to say we can do it now. Without more support from corporate partners and the media, we can’t.
Visit Drakar Racing on www.drakarracingteam.com