Lamborghini fans will get a special treat in this year's Merdeka Millennium Endurance (MME) race on Aug 25-27 when veteran driver Genji Hashimoto of Team Amprex revs up with a more powerful Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT. In 2004 Hashimoto, who is also president of Amprex Motorsports, introduced the Lamborghini into the MME but failed to win the 12-hour endurance race, retiring after leading almost three-quarters of the race, due to mechanical problems. Last year, Hashimoto made it to the winner's podium with Tengku Djan Ley and Australian V8 driver Tony Riccirdello in a Lotus Exige 300RR.

In addition to Hashimoto, Team Amprex will have drivers Hirakawa, a Japan Super GT series driver and Inoue, a former Porsche Cup Car Japanese Series champion. Support will also come from Team Amprex's experienced Malaysian mechanics and German Reiter Engineering, a long-time campaigner for Lamborghini who was involved in the racing development of the 6.0 litre V12 car. "Our team is a real blend of Japanese, Malaysian and German expertise," said Hashimoto in a statement Wednesday. He said the car was developed by Reiter Engineering and was much more powerful than the one used in 2004. "Barring any major mechanical problem, we stand a good chance to win," said the former Japan Super GT series.

The seventh edition of the 12-hour endurance race will start at midnight and end at noon on Aug 27 at the Sepang Circuit. The qualifying session will be held on Aug 25. Sepang International Circuit (SIC), the organisers of the event which is hailed as Asia's biggest race, expect more participants this year. Back with a midnight start and offering increased prize money for the winners, Sepang International Circuit is ready to make the eighth edition of the 12-hour Merdeka Millennium Endurance race its biggest ever. As early as May, registration for entries had poured in and the 2006 Merdeka Millennium Endurance race is certain to have another full entry of 77 starters as it had been since its second edition in 2001. The maiden race in 2000 had 52 entries.
 

“It looks like that we would be getting more than 77 cars again. So, again, the actual starting grid will depend on the team’s qualifying. My best wishes to all of our competitors,” says Datuk Ahmad Mustafa, General Manager of Sepang International Circuit. While noting that the increased prize money was a factor for the overwhelming response, Ahmad believed the bigger pull for the competitors was due to the growing prestige and popularity of the event, which is hailed as Asia’s Biggest Race with the participation of more than 300 drivers and 1,000 crew members and team personnel.  

With seventh edition of the endurance race to be flag-off minutes after midnight on Sunday on 27 August, competitors will have the qualifying session on Friday, August 25  August in determining their grid positions for the race. As in previous years, competitors will be grouped into four categories with those using the fully modified cars competing in the Open Category. Class A will be for production and sports cars above 1900cc while Class B will be for machines between 1601cc to 1900cc. Drivers with cars below 1600cc will be grouped in Class C. Internationally popular with competitors coming from as far as Japan, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia, each car will have three drivers who will compete to complete as many laps as possible around the 5.543-km F1 circuit within the 12-hour period. Featuring GT driver Genji Hashimoto, Australian Tony Riccirdello and Tengku Djan Ley Tengku Mahaleel, Team Amprex Motorsports Proton R3 won the race last year after completing 279 laps; narrowly beating defending champions Eddie Lew, Farriz Fauzy and Hiroki Katoh of Honda Malaysia Racing Team, which completed one lap less with 278 laps. The team, however, will be competing as rivals this year as Tengku Djan aimed to defend his title with a new partnership in their Lotus R3 machine. Hashimoto, on the other hand, would be challenging for the coveted crown in a Lamborghini Murciélago.

2004 overall winners, however, had kept their partnership intact with Super GT driver Hiroki Katoh joining forces with Eddie Lew and Farriz Fauzy for Honda Malaysia Racing Team in their bid to wrest back their title. Similarly with the champions of 2003 as Firhat Mokhzani, Eric Yeo and Chin Tzer Jinn would be competing for a third consecutive year for G1 Symphony Racing in their quest for top honours this year. Organised as part of Malaysian National Day celebrations, the event recorded its highest entry in 2003 with 104 participants. Last year, the organisers had 79 entries; forcing seven entries to be eliminated after qualifying.