Malaysia’s Viper Niza Racing Team transformed a potentially disastrous race weekend at the 12 Hours of Paul Ricard into a podium finish, earning the Spirit of the Race award for their determination to continue racing.
Just minutes into the second qualifying session for the GT3 Class on Friday (4 July), driver Dominic Ang and the team’s Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO crashed into the concrete barrier, severely damaging the chassis and leaving Viper Niza Racing facing the prospect of missing the race. However, within 24 hours, the team secured a rental and, with little time in the replacement vehicle, started from last place to finish 8th overall and 3rd in the GT3-AM Class.
“The grip during the hot sessions was not good but at that corner when you lose the car you are normally able to just drive out to the run off area. In this case, we’re still trying to find out what really happened and we suspect that it might have been due to a component coming loose,” said Team Principal and lead driver Douglas Khoo.
Fortune favored the brave as Viper Niza Racing secured a similar machine at the track, which had just been tested by Red Ant Racing. Their #93 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO finished 2nd in the 12 Hours of Paul Ricard, just 3.4 seconds behind race winner Proton Huber Competition in the Porsche 911 GT3R (992).
“To finish in the way that we did was nothing short of being God sent. On one hand we were extremely fortunate to have been able to get hold of a Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO but we practically had no driving time in the car before the start of the race to familiarize ourselves. We took a cautious approach in the opening few hours of the race and once all the drivers were dialed in, we began picking up the pace. Consistency was also the key factor and we are extremely elated with the result,” said Khoo.
The team’s performance, aided by third driver Melvin Moh, marked its best yet on the 5.842km circuit, echoing Viper Niza Racing’s last appearance at Paul Ricard in 2018, where they placed 13th from 27 cars in a 4-hour endurance race with a Ligier JSP3 in LMP3 Class.
With a 3rd place finish at Paul Ricard, where they were placed 4th in the GT3-AM standings, Viper Niza Racing solidifies its position in the Creventic 12H Series, with one more race in Barcelona scheduled for September.