The final round of GRA 2009 is over and we were there for a slice of the action; congratulations to all the winners and have a great time at the upcoming annual dinner! Held from 9am to 6pm at the parking lot beside the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya, this eventful finish to the Grass Racing Autosports calendar was befitting to such a competition that has seen drivers for all walks of life. Hit the jump below for even more action!

As usual, it started off as a briefing from the GRA head honcho, Ian Khong, 1/3 of the boys from the well-known Khong family. Apart from the usual safety rules and regulations, which were strictly enforced, sponsors for the year 2009 were also given a chance to speak to the drivers.

Besides the sponsors, the GRA ladies were also given a chance to introduce themselves to the predominantly male sport. *please use these photos responsibly*

After the briefing, it was time for a traditional track walk where drivers could check out the layout in detail. We took a panoramic shot of the track, and see if you can spot yourselves! (warning; file is slightly over 1.2MB, this opens in a separate window)

Track Walk Panoramic

Some of the drivers opted to tweak their cars for the event; and Ian was also doing his last-minute scrutinizing rounds.

Prior to the Pro-grass classes, the amateur Grass runs were held, specially for those who did not have overly modified cars with rollcages or rather, ‘stage 2’ and above mods. Also, the field seems to compose of cars with automatic gearboxes. Here are some of them in action!

The track layout of the day. Looks complicated, isn’t it? No? It gave 70% of the drivers (grass and Pro-grass included) DNF runs because they missed a few cones in the last three stages (S3 to S5)!! Its time to head back to the pits! Unlike most drift events where the track was enclosed, GRA has traditionally been dangerous to photographers especially on open tracks where drivers can get lost. Hence we had limited angles to stand at, until we can weasel out an all-go from Ian, here are the rest of the day’s shots! *hehehe*

Our ‘superstar’ Ryuk1d sweating it out, as usual. It was a darn warm day, not as warm as Star Drift the week before, but with double the humidity and half of the wind – everyone was sweating it out!

This Satria had a trumpet stack atop a ITB header. Sounds *almost* like a VTEC!

As you can see from the pic, Mervyn had a mechanical problem of the weird kind; the bumpy surface of the track caused his battery to dislocate and dislodge something on his fueling system O.o a quick retightening of things, and he was off again!

Even the coppers were keeping an eye out on that day. Errant competitors were discouraged from racing on the streets due to police presence, but that did not stop an impromptu drag race between an Evo and a White GT-R (R35) in the early afternoon, putting pressure on the organizers even though they were not part of the event. Tsk tsk tsk……

The marshals fixing the timing sensor after being hit by Mike in his red Evo.

The boys were anxious to have a look at their times, led by non other than Ariff. Here, they crowded the timing van like bees to honey.

Ted Chow reviewing his laptimes. The famed disabled driver in his now-sponsored Kenari was very consistent throughout the day, pulling in low 1:12s and high 1:11s throughout the four runs. *respect* *respect* *respect*

The drifters looking at the Tsusio lineups after the qualifying session……..NOT! There were a sizeable amount of drifters that day, and these famous people represent only half of the sideways community! Overall, they did a commendable job (and well-deserved trophies too!) in GRA, with Yoong bagging the second fastest overall time, only to be beaten by William-Ban-Sama-Dia in his Suzuki Swift!!

Bottles of Munn waiting to be popped open after the prize-giving……

The trophies. No water-carnival this time! Below are the GRA superstars with the GRA grid girls (can they be labeled as such??) posing with their cars after the session…

As usual ‘uncle’ Julian gets the whole curvy lot.

Ian was giving an interview for ESPN methinks, and the girls kept on hogging the limelight from their boss.

Finally, he gets to pose with his ladies!

After the lengthy prize-giving ceremony, the winners were all treated to a sparkling grape juice bath to signify the end of the 2009 GRA series. Here’s to a bigger and better GRA next year!

For those who want to see photographic proof of the timesheets, here they are;

Grass class timesheet

Pro-grass class timesheet