Aston Martin DBRS9 to Contest Merdeka 12 Hours

Barwell Motorsport recently announced it is preparing to compete in this year’s Merdeka Millennium 12 Hour Endurance race at the Sepang F1 circuit on August 7. Barwell, an Official Partner Team of Aston Martin Racing, will be campaigning the Frank Yu-owned Aston Martin DBRS9 GT3 car, in conjunction with top Asian team, Eurasia Motorsport.

The car has been fitted with a Bosch ABS system, marking the first time one has been used on a DBRS9. The car was tested by former F1 driver, Alex Yoong in Malaysia two weeks ago.

Current British GT driver and experienced DBRS9 exponent, Michael Bentwood, will be placed into the Merdeka squad to join car owner Frank Yu and Eric Cheung.

Barwell has had continued success in both endurance and sprint racing over the last five years with the Aston Martin DBRS9, culminating with a competitive fourth place in GT3 (and 11th overall) in the 2009 FIA Spa 24 Hours.

Hong Kong-based drivers Yu and Cheung also own Ginetta G50Z-Zytek machines, which will be shipped out for the first round of the GT3 Asia Championship at Sepang on May 15-16.

"We have recently completed full pre-season rebuilds on these cars, prior to them being shipped out for the first round of the GT3 Asia Championship at Sepang on May 15/16. Barwell’s Engineering Director, Chris Weeden, then joined the Eurasia crew to assist with their running at Sepang, where they recorded their best results to date," a company statement reads.

Barwell’s next event will be the British GT race at Spa on June 5. On the same weekend Barwell will also be competing at Oulton Park, with its Ginetta G50 Cup squad fielding championship runner Julien Draper in the fourth round of the TOCA one-make series.