By Channaka de Silva
Sri Lanka’s international headline maker Dilantha Malagamuwa once again brought glory to his country by winning the latest round of Malaysian Super Car series at Malayasia’s Formula I circuit in Sepang on Sunday, despite competing on a loaned engine.
The Japan-based champion had sent the engine of his Porsche to Germany for repairs but was stranded on the eve of the race as the engine had not arrived back on time when Team Michelin generously offered him the engine of a car they had in Malaysia.
The more amazing fact about his victory is that Malagamuwa could not take part in Friday’s testing as he was without an engine.
Malagamuwa’s engine was re-built in Germany before the last Asia GT championship and Malagamuwa went onto win the Asian GT despite the re-built engine still having defects. Soon after the race he was forced to send it back to Germany to get the engine back to shape but it had still not arrived back in Malaysia even by Friday for the Sunday’s race.
In the first race of the Sunday, defending champion Malagamuwa who last year became the first non-Malaysian ever to win the coveted title finished second behind his main rival Wira Dani Daim of Malaysia who competes on much more powerful car.
The Sri Lankan driver used an old set of tyres in the first race as the second race was the more important event.
At qualifying, Malagamuwa was only the third fastest behind Daim and Peter Hills. “I did the qualifying with an old set of tires and was only 0.2 seconds behind Peter but Wira was 2 seconds faster. I was not worried about the qualifying as I had confidence in the race.” Explained Malagamuwa later.
Despite running on old tyres, Malagamuwa was just four seconds behind the winner Daim in the first race where Angus Kirkwood finished third.
Both Daim and Kiekwood drive a car called Radical SR3 which is very much faster than Malagamuwa’s Porsche and also weighs only 770Kg as against Malagamuwa’s car which weighs 1240kg. “It is a big handicap but I still could keep up and beat them. But every one ran new tires in the first race so I knew I could win the second race. It was a great tactical move” Malagamuwa said.
In the second race, Malagamuwa used new tyres and grabbed the lead from the first corner and went onto win it with ease.
Within the first 2 laps he got a lead of about four seconds over Daim. “The first two laps are very important as the tyre temperatures are low and it is difficult to post good lap times” described Malagamuwa and added “After a few laps, I couldn't see anyone in my mirrors and I took it easy after the 10th lap. Still, when I finished, I had a 14-second lead over Peter Hills who finished second and a 17-second lead over Wira who was third. My plan worked and we were able to win” said a proud Malagamuwa who is now leading the series for the first time this year by three points of Daim.
Malagamuwa has now accumulated 105 points while his closes rival Daim has 102 points.
Peter Hills who finished second to Malagamuwa races on a special Mazda with a very light weight body and a very special engine. “The Radicals and the Mazda which are almost like Formula cars has a big advantage but still experience counts a lot” said Malagamuwa who is sponsored by Japanese business tycoon Hayashi Yoshiyuki. VRD Motor Sports my engineers and Michelin Tyres and Porsche also give him support. “My special thanks to Ian Geekie, Manager of Porsche Carrera Cup Asia for all the advice and support” said a grateful Malagamuwa.
Dilantha MALAGAMUWA
Car No : 6
Class : A
Nationality : Sri Lankan
Date of birth: 24 June 1963
Residence: Japan
Profession: Company Director
Hobbies: Music, traveling, helping underprivileged children
Racing History :
14 years of racing experience, over 100 victories in all types of cars, Competed in Formula Ford, F3, Formula Nippon, Japan GT, Daytona 24hr, Bathurst 24hr, first non-Japanese Asian to drive in Formula Nippon
2004
Porsche Infineon Carrera Cup Asia – 8 th Class A, 9th Overall
2005 Porsche Infineon Carrera Cup Asia – 6 th Class A, 6th Overall
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