Armed with two race wins in Round 1, Malaysian teenager Hayden Haikal will be the man to beat when Round 2 of the Idemitsu Super Turbo Championship gets underway this weekend (19-21 May) at the Chang International Circuit in Buriram.
The 18-year-old currently leads the overall point standings in the Junior Category in class D4 for normally-aspirated engines up to 1550cc, piloting a super touring version of the Toyota Vios for Malaysian team Wing Hin Motorsports.
“After two race wins I definitely expect the competition to be tougher this weekend but that only makes it more challenging,” said Hayden. “I am hoping to repeat Round 1’s results but we’ll see how it goes.
“In Round 1, we struggled to find the right set-up for the car in the absence of any previous racing data. This time, we have some valuable data and we hope we can make even greater progress moving forward. Running against top drivers in turbocharged cars that are way faster to our normally-aspirated car places us at some disadvantage but we have proven that that may not necessarily be the case in the race.”
It is Hayden and the team’s maiden appearance in the Idemitsu Super Turbo Championship in Thailand. For Hayden however, it is his second year competing in Thailand, after finishing the overall runner-up in another Thai championship, the Thailand Super Eco Saloon Car Series, last year.
The Idemitsu Super Turbo Championship will comprise of 3 rounds with Round 2 this weekend {19-21 May} and the final two rounds scheduled for 16-18 June 2023, with all races taking places at the 4.554km Chang International Circuit.
Catch the racing action live streamed at https://www.superturbothailand.com/2018/superturbo/ or on
the Super Turbo SEA Zone Challenge page on Facebook.