Malaysia Championship Series Round 3 Upclose and Personal with Mark Darwin, Touring Car Production Champion
LMS: There were many talks about your new car for this round, can you tell us more about it?
Mark: We have a new Honda Civic FD2R this round replacing the rented FD2R last round. This FD2R was sourced by Rueben Wong from Team Sakura Tedco Racing for the purpose of competing in the Touring Production category.
LMS: How much time did the team take to prepare the new car?
Mark: Time was not on our side as the team had only 2 weeks to prepare the car from bare chassis to a competition ready car. I guess time is always a factor for many race teams and for this round Team Sakura Tedco Racing has 6 track cars to prepare for MCS.
LMS: Can you share with us what lies beneath the hood of your innocent looking FD2R?
Mark: (Laughs) All I know is that they are customized parts that are in line with the Touring Production regulations (of course).
LMS: Tell us about your race weekend, how do you feel about it?
Mark: Well the car is fresh from the oven and I really didn't know what to expect from it. We encountered a small problem during practice as we couldn't engage the VTEC. In qualifying, we also had some issues with our gear linkage and with that we had to settle for P2. Kudos to the boys who then worked around the clock to ensure everything is tip top for the race the next day. For Race 1, we had a very good start, having managed to take the lead into Turn 1 away from my buddy Keifli Othman from JC Racing. With valuable data gained from Race 1, we managed to adjust the car accordingly for Race 2. This time we started from pole position and maintained the lead and completed the race with P1.
LMS: So what's the plan for the upcoming round?
Mark: We are planning to improve the car further and fine tune the handling before focusing on getting more engine power. We have approximately 2 months to do all the adjustments before the next race. The next race will be a 1 hour endurance race with a compulsory 3 min pit stop duration. We need to test the car to ensure we have the pace for 1 hour. We managed a very good pace during MCS Round 2, but that was with a different car.
LMS: What do you think your odds are in retaining the title of Overall Champion for MCS this year?
Mark: Well honestly anything is possible. We are very close to Chris Tan and Alan Wong from Pentagon Racing with only 2 points behind and Tung Wei Hsiao and Desmond Khoo are 1 point away from us. The competition is really close. Nevertheless, we are hoping for the best and we are working hard for the upcoming races. We will just have to wait and see.
