Malaysian trio of Jazeman Jaafar, Weiron Tan and Nabil Jeffri kicked off WEC Challenge on a bright note.

The Malaysian trio of Jazeman Jaafar, Weiron Tan and Nabil Jeffri started their challenge for the prestigious FIA World Endurance Championship on the right foot after a positive result during the official test recently

The Jackie Chan DC Racing trio got a taste of what’s to come in their new 07 Oreca car during the two-day test at the Paul Ricard Circuit in France from April 6-7.

The trio, whose chance to race in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) was made possible by Sepang International Circuit’s effort through its SIC Talent Development Initiative in collaboration with Jackie Chan DC Racing team, completed 30 hours around the 5,861km track on board the new LMP2 (Le Mans Prototype 2) car.

During the 30-hour test, the trio managed to complete 248 laps with the best lap time of 1:41.857, just 9.195s behind the LMP1 of Toyota Gazoo Racing (Sebastian Buemi-Mike Conway) who topped the timesheet.

Jazeman Jaafar said it was a fruitful outing in France as they will begin their challenge in the FIA World Endurance Championship with the first round at the famed Spa Francorchamps in Belgium from May 3-5.  “We had a smooth test throughout the two days and we continued to improve and work to make the car suit us. It has been a steep learning curve but we shall carry forward and be ready for the first round,” he said.

Meanwhile, Weiron is taking a lot of positives from the test as it was a different car from the one they drove to victory in the third leg of the Asian Le Mans Series (ALMS) in Buriram, Thailand, last year. “I’m really happy with the progress we made. We had our own test programme to follow and I’m glad we managed to stick to the plan and fully utilize the track time. “The Oreca 07 LMP2 is just an amazing car to drive and a huge difference from the 05 model we drove in ALMS. It has a lot more downforce and a lot faster…I really enjoyed it,” he said.

Fellow team mate, Nabil Jeffri was satisfied with the results after the test. “This is my first time working with the team. It has been a great two days of testing and hopefully we will do well in the opening race in Spa Francorchamps,” he said.

The trio will take part in the whole WEC season which begins with the 6 Hours of Spa Francochamps, Le Mans 24 Hours (June 16-17), 6 Hours of Silverstone in Britain (Aug 19), 6 Hours of Fuji in Japan (Oct 14), 6 Hours of Shanghai in China (Nov 18) 1,500 miles of Sebring in the US (March 16, 2019) and culminating at Le Mans again from June 15-16, 2019.