Malagamawa moves up in standings

Bernard Perera

The defending champion of the Malaysian super series and the only Sri Lankan drive with the International Racing Drivers licence Dilantha Malagamuwa is on his way to retain the championship for a further period.

On Sunday Malagamuwa moved two steps forward to be placed on the second position in the overall standings.

He had to face stiff opposition from the day of the time trials as the two leading drivers were behind the wheels of more powered cars. Malagamawa was in a porches 996 GT.

Thunku Hamam got the best time to occupy the pole position with Dilantha having the third best time. Tunku Hamam made maximum use of his pole position to win the round one with a time of 16.59:405 secs. Wira Dani Diam who was behind Dilantha at the start too got the maximum support from his vehicle to take the second slot while the Lankan finished third Mok Weng Sung the Malaysian who was just behind Hamam failed to reach the podium.

The second round consisting of 15 laps commenced with Malagamawa taking a comfortable lead followed by Dian and Mok Weng. The winner in the first round Hamam failed to receive the start orders but was seen entering the race halfway of the first lap. Though he entered the race he could not complete the full distance as his vehicle came up with technical problems.

Malagamawa held on to his lead until he finished the 13th lap. His cornering was in perfect style where none could match. But the biggest difficulty he faced was that his engine did not have sufficient power to give the challengers a tough time in straight stretch.

This was the only hazard he faced. Still he looks a confident driver. Wira Dani went ahead in the 14th lap pushing Malagamuna to second slot, while mok weng followed. Weng occupied the overall second position after the round one moved down to third in the overall standings with 47 points.

Wira Dani heads the table with 75 point while Malagamuwa has closed the gap collecting 51 points. Wira Dani collected 16.58:238 secs while Malagamuwa had a time of 17.09:821 secs for the round two.

Dilantha Malagamuwa will travel to Shanghai to compete in the Aston martin Cup Championship which is scheduled for May 23,24 and 25.