The Malaysia Merdeka Endurance Race (formerly known as "Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race"), commonly known as MMER, is a 12 Hours endurance racing event held annually since 2000 at the Sepang International Circuit

Sepang International Circuit

The Sepang International Circuit is a racing circuit in Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia. It is located near Kuala Lumpur International Airport, approximately 60 km south of the capital city Kuala Lumpur. It is the venue used for the Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix, A1 Grand Prix as well as the...

 on late August as part of the Merdeka

Merdeka

Merdeka is a word in the Indonesian and Malay language meaning Independent or freedom. It is derived from the Sanskrit Maharddhika meaning "rich, prosperous and powerful". In the Malay archipelago, this term had acquired the meaning of a freed slave...

 festivities in Malaysia.

The 2012 Malaysia Merdeka Endurance Race will be part of the Japanese Super Taikyu Series.

Schedule

The 2006 race was run on August 27, 2006 from 12:07am to 12:07pm. In 2006 the race was sponsored by Petronas

Petronas

PETRONAS, short for Petroliam Nasional Berhad, is a Malaysian oil and gas company that was founded on August 17, 1974. Wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia, the corporation is vested with the entire oil and gas resources in Malaysia and is entrusted with the responsibility of developing and...

 Primax 3 and it was won by the Proton R3 Racing Team with their Lotus Exige

Lotus Exige

The Lotus Exige is a two-door, two-seat sports car made by Lotus Cars. It is essentially a coupé version of the Lotus Elise, a mid-engined roadster in production since 1996....

 300RR.

2007 race was run on August 25, 2007 from 11:00am to 11:00pm. Once again Petronas

Petronas

PETRONAS, short for Petroliam Nasional Berhad, is a Malaysian oil and gas company that was founded on August 17, 1974. Wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia, the corporation is vested with the entire oil and gas resources in Malaysia and is entrusted with the responsibility of developing and...

 Primax 3 sponsored the race. The race was won by Hong Leong-Kencana Racing with a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR.

Classes

2010 - Current


The race is divided into 3 classes

• GT Class for

FIA GT2 FIA Article 257
FIA GT3 and CUP cars FIA article 257A
JAF : Supertaiku Cars (STX – ST1)

• Sports Production for

FIA GT4 Cars (All cars complying with SRO Regulations)
FIA Group B Cars as per FIA Article 256
Sports Cars with Diesel Engine above 1900cc

• Touring Production for

Group N Cars 1900cc and above as per FIA Article 254
Group A cars 1900cc and above as per FIA Article 255
Non FIA Homologated Touring Cars 1900cc and above (2,500 minimum annual production) as per FIA Article 277
JAF Supertaiku Cars (ST2 – ST4)
Touring/Saloon Cars with Diesel Engine above 1900cc

2009


The race is divided into 3 classes

• Open for modified racing cars.
• A1 for production supercars.
• A2 for production sports and saloon cars.

2000 - 2008


The race is divided into 4 classes:

• Open for modified racing cars.
• A for production road cars with engine capacity exceeding 2000cc.
• B for production road cars with engine capacity exceeding 1600cc.
• C for production road cars with engine capacity below 1600cc.

1990-2000

In the late 90s, Malaysian auto manufacturer Proton

Proton (company)

Proton is a Malaysian automobile manufacturer headquartered in Subang Jaya and Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia, with a manufacturing plant in Tanjung Malim, Perak. Founded in 1983, it was Malaysia's only carmaker until the establishment of its competitor and arch-rival, Perodua, in 1993...

 used to organize a 300 km race at Shah Alam circuit for local racers racing with Protons, to celebrate Merdeka in Malaysia. When Sepang International Circuit was built the race was shifted to the F1 circuit, with the winners of the race entitled to a new Proton road car.

But after the 1999 race, a dispute happened between Proton and Sepang International Circuit, resulting in Proton's sponsorship withdrawal. Sepang therefore decided to host a replacement race by itself and started the Merdeka Millennium 12 Hours Endurance Race in 2000. The race also opened up for non-Proton entries.

The inaugural race was won by the Proton EON Racing Team (PERT) with Jimmy Low, Karamjit Singh

Karamjit Singh

Karamjit Singh , also known as the Flying Sikh, is a Malaysian professional race driver in rallying, and was the first Asian driver to win the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile Production Car World Championship for Drivers, doing so on his first try. He has been rallying professionally...

 and Tommy Lee driving, beating off the challenge from TVR Racing who ran Malaysian F1 driver Alex Yoong

Alex Yoong

Alexander Charles Yoong Loong , is a Malaysian race car driver of European and Asian parentage. His mother, Joanna Bean, is from England. His father, Hanifah Yoong Yin Fah , a Malaysian Chinese, is a former racer and manager of the Shah Alam circuit between 1988 and 1998...

.

2001-2008

In 2001, TVR Racing won the race with Jeffery Wong, Tommy Lee and Admi Shahrul in a TVR Chimaera

TVR Chimaera

The TVR Chimaera is a two-seater convertible sports car manufactured by TVR between 1992 and 2003. The name was derived from Chimera, the monstrous creature of Greek mythology, which was made of the parts of multiple animals...

.

In 2002, Amprex Motorsport entered the Japan GT300 spec Mazda RX-7 machine, with crack Hong Kong driver Charles Kwan

Charles Kwan

Charles Kwan Siu-Cheung is the most successful Hong Kong racing driver who has competed in the Macau Guia Race, Japan GT Championship, FIA GT Championship, Porsche Carrera Cup Asia, South East Asia Touring Car Zone Challenge and the Asian Touring Car Championship...

 and Kevin Wong as its drivers. But the car failed to finish the race. Nigel Albon

Nigel Albon

Nigel Albon is a British race car driver. He last drove in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia for Team Vertu in 2007.-Racing career:In 1993 he raced in the Renault Clio Cup, finishing the year fifth on points...

, Tommy Lee and T. Hamman won in their Porsche 911 GT3

Porsche 911 GT3

The Porsche 911 GT3 is a higher performance version of the Porsche 911 sports car. It is the latest in a line of high performance models, beginning with the 1973 911 RS...

.

In 2003, the race got more serious with BSA Racing entering a Radical SR3 and a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup with Wolf Henzler as its lead driver, while Amprex Motorsport entered the BMW M3 GT for Charles Kwan, Matthew Marsh

Matthew Marsh (racing driver)

Matthew Marsh is a British racing driver who now resides in Hong Kong.-Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race:...

 and Genji Hashimoto

Genji Hashimoto

Genji Hashimoto Genji Hashimoto Genji Hashimoto (born October 7, 1965 is a Japanese race car driver who competed in the Japanese GT Series from 2001 to 2004 for the Amprex team. He was on the winning team of the 2005 Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race.- References :...

. Alex Yoong was also back with Jaseri Racing. But in the end unfancied G1-Meritus won the race after outlasting its rivals, with Eric Yeo, Firhat Mohkzani and Chin Tzer-Jinn driving their Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car serenely to victory after completing 268 laps.

In 2004, Amprex Motorsport, armed with the latest ACO

Automobile Club de l'Ouest

The Automobile Club de l'Ouest , sometimes abbreviated to ACO, is the largest automotive group in France. It was founded in 1906 by car building and racing enthusiasts, and is most famous for being the organising entity behind the annual Le Mans 24 Hours race...

/FIA GT1 spec Lamborghini Murcielago

Lamborghini Murciélago

The Lamborghini Murciélago is a two-door, two-seat sports car produced by Italian automaker Lamborghini between 2001 and 2010. Successor to the Diablo and flagship of the automaker's lineup, the Murciélago was introduced as a coupé in 2001. The automaker's first new design in eleven years, the car...

 R-GT racer, totally dominated proceedings as its drivers set laps of 2:09s around the circuit. But the car brokedown and Honda Malaysia Racing Team, with Eddie Lew, Farriz Fauzy and Super GT

Super GT

The Super GT series, formerly known as the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship or JGTC , is a grand touring car race series promoted by the GT-Association...

 driver Hiroki Katoh, took the top step of the podium, despite running in class A.

The 2005 edition was dominated by a joint effort between Amprex Motorsport and Proton R3 Racing, together they operated the team and their Lotus Exige

Lotus Exige

The Lotus Exige is a two-door, two-seat sports car made by Lotus Cars. It is essentially a coupé version of the Lotus Elise, a mid-engined roadster in production since 1996....

 300RR won outright, completing 279 laps.

In 2006, Amprex Motorsport decided to bring back the Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT for the race but it was crippled in a practice accident, allowing Proton R3 Racing's Lotus Exige 300RR a clear run to victory number 2, completing 271 laps in the process. Faidzil Alang, Australian Damien French and Tengku Djan Ley shared the driving duties.

The 2007 race has been made more interesting with more participation from foreign teams racing teams, namely J's Racing Lab with a Honda S2000

Honda S2000

The Honda S2000 is a roadster that was manufactured by the Japanese automaker Honda Motor Company. It was launched in April 1999 and was created to celebrate the company's 50th anniversary. The car was first shown as a concept at the Tokyo Motor Show in 1995, following which it was launched in...

 and Juniper Racing with a 911 GT3 RSR. Famous racing drivers such as former F1

Formula One

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

 and 24 Hours of Le Mans

24 Hours of Le Mans

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since near the town of Le Mans, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, race teams have to balance speed against the cars' ability to run for 24 hours without sustaining...

 driver Hans-Joachim Stuck also participated in the race. Year 2007 also record the highest participation so far with 103 cars signing up for the race but only 77 makes it to the starting grid in accordance to the FIA circuit license granted to Sepang International Circuit.

In 2008, the race was won by Darryl O'Young

Darryl O'Young

Darryl O'Young Yeuk-Hay is a Canadian-born Chinese racing driver. He currently resides in Hong Kong.-Early career:O'Young began racing in 1988 at the age of eight. Trained by his father he honed his driving skills in karting winning numerous championships...

, Mok Wing Sun and Alexander Nicholas Davison of Porsche Club Singapore. Their Porsche 997 RSR completed 308 laps.

Overall Winners

Year	Team	Drivers	Car	Laps
2011	Petronas Syntium Team	Nobuteru Taniguchi Nobuteru Taniguchi is a Japanese racing driver and former drifting driver who currently competes in Super GT. Taniguchi is commonly nicknamed "NOB" or "The Pimp" as a reference to his S15 Silvia which he is best known for....   Masataka Yanagidai   Dominic Ang	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	321
2010	Arrows Racing	T.Hammam   Peter Kox Peter Kox Peter Kox is a racecar driver from the NetherlandsKox began racing in karts in 1978, winning five titles until 1982. In 1983 he moved to automobiles, winning the Marlboro Formula Ford Challenge and was second and third in the Benelux and Dutch Formula Ford 2000 Championships, respectively, the...   C. Haase	Lamborghini LP560 Lamborghini Gallardo The Lamborghini Gallardo is a sports car built by Lamborghini. The Gallardo is Lamborghini's most-produced model to date, with over 10,000 built in its first seven years of production...	315
2009	Petronas Syntium Team	T.Kataoka   M.Orido   Johan Adzmi	BMW Z4M Coupe BMW Z4 The BMW Z4 is a rear-wheel drive sports car by the German car maker BMW. It follows a line of past BMW roadsters such as the BMW Z1, BMW 507, BMW Z8, and the BMW Z3. The Z4 replaces the Z3. First generation production started in 2002 at BMW USA's Greer, South Carolina plant, with production of both...	306
2008	Team Porsche Club Singapore	D.Nicholas   Darryl O'Young Darryl O'Young Darryl O'Young Yeuk-Hay is a Canadian-born Chinese racing driver. He currently resides in Hong Kong.-Early career:O'Young began racing in 1988 at the age of eight. Trained by his father he honed his driving skills in karting winning numerous championships...   Mok Wing Sun	Porsche 997 RSR	308
2007	Team Hong Leong-Kencana Racing	Mokhzani Mahathir Mokhzani Mahathir Dato' Mokhzani bin Tun Dr. Mahathir is the second son of Former Prime Minister of Malaysia Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah. Like his younger brother Mukhriz, Mokhzani is a businessman and had played an active role in United Malays National Organisation , and at one time serving as...   Sven Herberger   Lars Erik Nielsen	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Porsche 911 The Porsche 911 is a luxury 2-door sports coupe made by Porsche AG of Stuttgart, Germany. It has a distinctive design, rear-engined and with independent rear suspension, an evolution of the swing axle on the Porsche 356. The engine was also air-cooled until the introduction of the Type 996 in 1998...	288
2006	Proton R3 Team	Tengku Djan Ley Tengku Djan Ley Tengku Djan Ley bin Tengku Mahaleel is the head of Proton Motorsports and is also a Malaysian professional drifting driver who has taken part in the D1 Grand Prix racing series and others. He has won the 12 hour Merdeka Millennium Endurance race twice in 2005 and 2006...   Damien French   Faidzil Alang	Lotus Exige 300RR Lotus Exige The Lotus Exige is a two-door, two-seat sports car made by Lotus Cars. It is essentially a coupé version of the Lotus Elise, a mid-engined roadster in production since 1996....	271
2005	Proton R3 Amprex	Tengku Djan Ley Tengku Djan Ley Tengku Djan Ley bin Tengku Mahaleel is the head of Proton Motorsports and is also a Malaysian professional drifting driver who has taken part in the D1 Grand Prix racing series and others. He has won the 12 hour Merdeka Millennium Endurance race twice in 2005 and 2006...   Genji Hashimoto Genji Hashimoto Genji Hashimoto Genji Hashimoto Genji Hashimoto (born October 7, 1965 is a Japanese race car driver who competed in the Japanese GT Series from 2001 to 2004 for the Amprex team. He was on the winning team of the 2005 Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race.- References :...   Tony Ricciardello Tony Ricciardello Tony Ricciardello, , is a multiple-championship winning Australian race car driver.Son of Sports Sedan racer and team owner Basil Ricciardello, Tony was brought up into the Western Australian racing scene...	Lotus Exige 300RR Lotus Exige The Lotus Exige is a two-door, two-seat sports car made by Lotus Cars. It is essentially a coupé version of the Lotus Elise, a mid-engined roadster in production since 1996....	279
2004	Honda Malaysia Racing Team	Eddie Lew   Hiroki Katoh   Farriz Fauzy	Honda Civic 2.0 i-VTEC Honda Civic The Honda Civic is a line of subcompact and subsequently compact cars made and manufactured by Honda. The Civic, along with the Accord and Prelude, comprised Honda's vehicles sold in North America until the 1990s, when the model lineup was expanded...	265
2003	G1 Meritus	Eric Yeo   Chin Tzer-Jinn   Firhat Mohkzani	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Porsche 911 The Porsche 911 is a luxury 2-door sports coupe made by Porsche AG of Stuttgart, Germany. It has a distinctive design, rear-engined and with independent rear suspension, an evolution of the swing axle on the Porsche 356. The engine was also air-cooled until the introduction of the Type 996 in 1998...	268
2002	Jaseri Racing	Nigel Albon   T. Hamman   Tommy Lee	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Porsche 911 The Porsche 911 is a luxury 2-door sports coupe made by Porsche AG of Stuttgart, Germany. It has a distinctive design, rear-engined and with independent rear suspension, an evolution of the swing axle on the Porsche 356. The engine was also air-cooled until the introduction of the Type 996 in 1998...	262
2001	Team TVR	Jeffrey Wong   Admi Sharhal   Tommy Lee	TVR Chimaera TVR Chimaera The TVR Chimaera is a two-seater convertible sports car manufactured by TVR between 1992 and 2003. The name was derived from Chimera, the monstrous creature of Greek mythology, which was made of the parts of multiple animals...	250
2000	Proton EON Racing Team	Jimmy Low   Karamjit Singh Karamjit Singh Karamjit Singh , also known as the Flying Sikh, is a Malaysian professional race driver in rallying, and was the first Asian driver to win the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile Production Car World Championship for Drivers, doing so on his first try. He has been rallying professionally...   Tommy Lee	Proton Proton (company) Proton is a Malaysian automobile manufacturer headquartered in Subang Jaya and Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia, with a manufacturing plant in Tanjung Malim, Perak. Founded in 1983, it was Malaysia's only carmaker until the establishment of its competitor and arch-rival, Perodua, in 1993...  PERT	253

Trivia

• Tommy Lee is the only driver to have won the Open class three times. He raced for three different teams for the wins: PERT, TVR and Jaseri Racing.
• The Honda Malaysia Racing Team (HMRT) has won class A four times in a row since 2003, it also won the race overall in 2004.
• The 2001 MME witnessed the entry form a private high school, Pay Fong High School that joined the race in the name of charity. All the contributions from the sponsors were for charity purposes.
• Honda Malaysia Racing Team started competing in the MME in 2003 and partnered together with Team Kunimitsu Racing of Japan. The team entered the race with a Honda Integra DC5. Team Kunimitsu Racing's president, Kunimitsu Takahashi
  Kunimitsu Takahashi
  is a former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and racing driver from Japan who is also considered as the "father of drifting". He was the chairman of the GT-Association, the organizers of the Super GT series, from 1993 to 2007.-Motorcycle racing:...
  
   who is also a former F1 driver, current chairman of the GT-Association (GTA) of Japan and the organizers of the Super GT
  Super GT
  The Super GT series, formerly known as the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship or JGTC , is a grand touring car race series promoted by the GT-Association...
  
   Series, drove together with the team in 2003 and 2004. Mr. Kunimitsu is now the advisor to the Honda Malaysia Racing Team.
• Hong Kong actor and stunt choreographer, Chin Kar-lok participated in the MMER in 2005 competing in class C with a Honda Civic.
• Malaysia racing wonder kid Jazeman Jaafar
  Jazeman Jaafar
  Jazeman Firhan Jaafar is a Malaysian racing driver.-Karting:After beginning in karting aged six, Jaafar has won a total eleven kart race victories in both his home country Malaysia and in Belgium.-Formula Renault:...
  
  had become the youngest participant of MMER in 2007 at the age of 14.
• Team Porsche Club Singapore became the first foreign team to win the Merdeka Millennium Endurance in 2008.