HardKhor Motorsports, our contributor, explains how two events – at Sepang and at Le Mans – are related and why this is important to him personally and to many Malaysians in motorsports.

Let me take you back over 30 years to 1986 in Germany where Porsche launched its Carrera Race Series for the Type 951 which was the 944 Turbo. By 1989, the 944 model was at the end of its model life and Porsche decided to go with the Type 964 Carrera 2.

The 911-based racing car debuted in 1990… and thus began the most successful and longest running one make/model racing series ever… adding very much to Porsche’s stunning 60 years of racing and more than 30,000 victories the world over!!

France introduced the Porsche Carrera Cup in 1987, Japan in 2001, and in 2003, the UK, Australia and Asia joined in. Today, there are 25 countries and regions running their own Carrera Cup Series.

Porsche Carrera Cup Asia begins in 2003….
Porsche Malaysia started out in 2000 as AutoEurokars and owned by Tan Sri Dato’ Mokhzani Mahathir, with the introduction of type 996, the first water-cooled 911.

The Carrera Cup racing version based on the 996 GT3 road car was introduced in 2003 and AutoEurokars brought EKS Motorsports (based in Sunway, Selangor) in as the technical services team for the PCCA Race Series. This series originally was based on the Arrive & Drive concept as logistics & technical/team management service were all taken care of by EKS and Porsche Asia Pacific.

AutoEurokar’s Jaseri Racing Team entered a car in the first season of PCCA. I was the team manager and we also prepared the Porsche for the first 12-Hour Merdeka Millennium race. We would enter this iconic endurance event for the next 10 years in various 911 GT3 Cup & RSR versions and we always had a helping hand with technicians seconded from EKS Motorsports.

Porsche Carrera Cup Asia in 2019…
16 years have passed since PCCA began here in Asia and EKS Motorsports is still the technical services support group for the series. Meanwhile, many Malaysian and Malaysian-based drivers have come and gone in the PCCA but one name stands out: Earl Bamber (pictured below).

Bamber lives in Kuala Lumpur and during the 2013-14 season, he raced in the PCCA with Team Nexus Infinity owned by Malaysian Adrian DeSilva and then for the LKM Team run by Malaysia-based Arrows Racing, winning two PCCA titles along the way.

2015 saw Bamber recruited as a Porsche works driver and he went on to win the Le Mans 24-Hours twice (in 2015 and 17) in the LMP1 Porsche 919 Hybrid.

Last Saturday celebrated the PCCA’s 200th race and Adrian DeSilva returned to the series in the Pro-Am class. He was joined just for the weekend by Timothy Yeo.

So you can now understand why Porsche and the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Series is closely tied to Malaysia, Malaysians and Malaysian teams involved with motorsports.