PETRONAS Syntium Team
Season 2009
Super Taikyu Endurance Series

TEAM PROFILE - HOMEGROWN HERITAGE

PETRONAS’ involvement in saloon and touring car races dates back almost two decades with what was originally known as TEAM PETRONAS. After a string of championship successes on the home front, the team expanded its wings to participate in major touring car championships including the South African, British and Asian touring car championships. Since 2007, the PETRONAS SYNTIUM TEAM took up a new challenge taking the BMW Z4M Coupe to Japan to compete in the gruelling Super Taikyu Endurance Series, rounding off its second season claiming top honours.

Back to the beginning
It all started with the Malaysian and Asian Saloon car events in 1990 when the team raced under the name TEAM PETRONAS with a strong record of significant championship successes and over 80 wins. The first significant change came in the 1999 / 2000 season when the collaboration with Opel South Africa, led to the team’s participation in the South African Touring Car Championship (SATCC) under the name of TEAM PETRONAS SYNTIUM OPEL. When the SATCC ceased, the team's South African challenge continued with the 2001 South African Wesbank V8 Championship with a completely new car, which was designed and built in nine weeks.

Going British
2002 saw the team move into the prestigious world of touring cars when it entered in arguably the world’s premier touring car series, the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) series under the banner of the PETRONAS SYNTIUM PROTON team. The team had entered a different phase with two PETRONAS-backed Proton Impians in the BTCC Drivers' and Manufacturers' Championship, adding a new marquee to the grid in the 2002, 2003 and 2004 season.

Home sweet home
After a three-year campaign in the BTCC, the team returned to Asia in 2005 to begin its challenge in the Asian Touring Car Championship (ATCC). An FIA-sanctioned race, the ATCC formed part of the Asian Festival of Speed (AFOS) with rounds across Asia. BTCC pilot Fariqe Hairuman returned to his seat in the Proton Impian to lead the team’s charge in Division One (1600 cc and above). In addition to participating in Division 2 (1600 cc and below), the season ended on a high with Team PSP drivers bagging second and third overall in the drivers’ championship in Division 1 and second overall for Division 2.



The following year, the team brought three Proton Impians to the Division 1 grid, cementing the team's position as the premier touring car team int he region claiming the team championship title with its drivers taking 2nd, 3rd and 4th overall in the drivers championship for the class.

With the Johorian Fariqe Hairuman continuing the team's assault on the renamed Asian Touring Car Series in 2007, the team switched to different liveries with a BMW 320SI. The young Malaysian capped the team’s third season off on a high after taking the drivers’ championship crown to become the youngest Asian in the world ever to take a major touring car title, an honour that also caught the attention of the BMW who presented Fariqe with a special award at the end of the 2007 season.

Northern Exposure
2007 also saw the team embark on a new challenge with a move to the highly regarded Japanese Super Taikyu Endurance Series.  Having had experience of racing in the Korean round in the series in 1999, the 2007 challenge featured the pairing of Fariqe Hairuman and experienced Japanese driver Masataka Yanagida at the helm of a BMW Z4M Coupe.

2008 once again brought about another change. The dynamic duo of Fariqe and Yanagida returned for their second season  this time joined by four new teammates and a second BMW Z4M Coupe in the team’s double assault on the series. The season proved to be a landmark year when the team closed out 2008 with a perfect 8 race wins from 8 races, 15 podium finishes and 6 pole positions en route to becoming the first Malaysian team to secure a 1-2 championship finish in a major Japanese race series.

Racing on the home front
The same year of its debut in Japan, the team also introduced the BMW Z4M Coupe to the country’s motoring fraternity’s largest annual gathering – the Merdeka Millennium Endurance race. The father-and-son pair of Hans Joachim Stuck and Johannes Stuck took on the guest drivers’ role at the event driving alongside Fariqe Hairuman.

The following year, the PETRONAS Syntium Team returned this time with two BMW Z4M Coupes with their Super Taikyu Endurance Series driver line-up along with Johannes Stuck to participate in the 2008 edition of the PETRONAS Primax 3 Merdeka Millennium Endurance race.