30.08.2004 With a huge lead AND JUST two hours remaining, transmission failure forced the Amprex Motosports Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT out of the Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race

The Amprex Motorsports team had to retire from the fifth Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race (MME) on Saturday when their Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT developed a terminal mechanical problem.

The transmission failure happened during the 180th lap of the race which was being held at the Sepang International Circuit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Team Director Hong Heng Soon said that the car, the hot favourite for victory in the 12-hour endurance race, held to celebrate Malaysia’s independence day on Aug 31, had a broken differential detected with about two hours for the race remaining.

The 550bhp sportscar, developed and build by German racing experts, Reiter Engineering, for Lamborghini, was leading by about 20 laps when the problem developed. 

Driven by top touring car drivers, Kuala Lumpur-based Genji Hashimoto, Charles Kwan from Hong Kong and German Norman Simon, started from pole position after posting the fastest lap time of 2:06.181, during the qualifying round held on Friday (Aug 27).

Owner of the team, Genji Hashimoto, said that it was unfortunate, but the veteran driver added that in motor racing such things do happen even to the best of teams.

He said with the assistance of Lamborghini and Reiter Engineering the team would endeavor to put things right as soon as possible. “Some mechanical parts and technical data will be sent to Lamborghini and Reiter for analysis”, he concluded.

The Honda Malaysia Racing Team, a combination of Japanese and Malaysian drivers, driving specially prepared Honda Civics, were the overall winners of the race, completing 265 laps which was an MME record. A total of 73 cars contested in the race in four categories.