Elder brother Major General Tunku Ismail Ibni Sultan Ibrahim is deeply involved in football and has made a name for himself in the game and now another of the Johor prince will take the plunge in sports – motorsport.
 
Tunku Abdul Rahman, the fourth son of Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar, has taken his first step to being a successful race driver at the 2019 Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia series.
 
Tunku Ismail, who is also the Crown Prince of Johor, and is the owner of five-time Malaysian Super League champions Johor Darul Takzim (JDT), popularly known as the Southern Tigers.
 
Tunku Abdul Rahman, who is the Tunku Panglima Johor, will make his debut when the series is held at the Sepang International Circuit on April 6-7.
 
He will race in a Mercedes Benz AMG GT3 for Johor Motorsports Racing which is managed by Australian outfit Triple Eight Race Engineering.
 
The car, which depicts striking Johor livery on its side, was unveiled by Johor Ruler Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar at Dataran Bandaraya Johor Bahru on Saturday night in a glittering ceremony that was also attended by Permaisuri Johor Raja Zarith Sofiah Binti Sultan Idris Shah.
 
Partnering Tunku Abdul Rahman will be fellow Johorean and Malaysian racing ace Jazeman Jaafar. The Johor pair will be joined by experienced European Blancpain GT champion Shane van Gisbergen.
 
“I am very excited and looking forward to doing my best in this series. The support from my family has also been amazing,” said Tunku Abdul Rahman.
 
“I am also proud of this moment as my late grandfather Almarhum Sultan Iskandar Ibni Almarhum Sultan Ismail was also an avid racer and won the 1960 Johor GP, also in a Mercedes.”
 
The 2019 Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia is an auto racing series for GT3-spec and GT4-spec cars.
 
The season will be run over six race weekends consisting of two, one-hour races each.
 
After Sepang, the series will then move to Buriram, Thailand (May 11-12); Suzuka, Japan (June 22-23) and Fuji, Japan (July 6-7). 
 
The Korea International Circuit in Yeongnam will host Round 5 (Aug 3-4) while Shanghai will close the season with races on Sept 27-28. – BY RIZAL ABDULLAH
 
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