The Halfway Stage; Preview Storylines in the Sepang Weekend

Sepang, 21 February 2024 — Sepang International Circuit will play host to two Formula Hololive International Races for the 2023-24 season, the Malaysian double-header, and the stakes keep on building for the championship protagonists.

The Track

Sepang International Circuit is a 5.5 kilometer long circuit built in 1999, having played host to multiple motorsports events from Formula 1 and MotoGP to various grassroots series. This weekend, Formula Hololive International heads to the circuit for two races; one for the Superprix, rescheduled to Thursday night local time due to host conflicts, and the Grand Prix, currently unaffected by the reschedule, being due to host on Sunday noon local time.

Sepang Superprix:

1PM GMT/ 9PM MYT

Malaysia Grand Prix:

5AM GMT/ 1PM MYT

With its fast corners like turns 5-6 and 12-13-14, and track temperatures exceeding 40 degrees celsius, tire wear and pitstops will be a real deciding factor on the race winner for both races, in addition to lack of blue flag rules in ARO competitions, allowing leaders to get stuck in lapped traffic.

The Weekend Roundup

After the Indonesia double-header at Mandalika International Street Circuit, when in Sunday's Indonesia Grand Prix there is undoubtedly an uproar in the recent race winner Takeda Adachi (Ninomae Ina'nis) where he was slammed with a 5 second-penalty added to his race result, with an added 5 seconds added post race, both for causing a collision, but despite all of this, Adachi still got the win in the Indonesia Grand Prix, with the final gap to second placed Bernardo Santiago for Watson Amelia being only 1.7 seconds ahead after penalties. Aziz Muazif representing Ayunda Risu also copped a 5-second penalty himself for the same infraction as Adachi had, and initially finished 2nd, but has to settle for third after adjusting to penalties.

Aziz Muazif, despite penalties in the Grand Prix, has had a successful weekend at Mandalika with him bringing home 300 points and finishing third in both races (the Superprix on Saturday and the Grand Prix on Sunday), the most out of any driver in that weekend.

The Current Order in the Standings

As it stands, with a 9th and a win in the last two races, Adachi has leapfrogged from 4th to 1st in the International Championship. The previous championship leader before the Indonesian double header Jake Martinez representing Mori Calliope has dropped to 4th after mid-table finishes in the two Indonesian races. Juani Castanto for Ouro Kronii has remained in the hunt for the International Championship since Austin last November, having secured 2nd in the standings since his win at Phillip Island last December.

Adachi leads Castanto by 45 points in 2nd, and leads the third placed driver Muazif by 92 points.

With Sepang on the horizon, and given how the Indonesian double-header played out, there's no ruling out any chaos that can ensue in the next double header.