eSports-turned-real world racer Ady Rahimy Rashid aims to go far in car racing.
The mechanical engineering student at Universiti Malaya has set his sights on reaching the pinnacle of touring car racing — which is the World Touring Car Cup (WTCR).
Ady, 20, won a seat in the Malaysian Championship Series (MCS) last year by virtue of his strong performances in the virtual e-MCS and in the subsequent trial held by the Sepang International Circuit Talent Development Programme.
MCS is the national touring car championship organised by SIC annually.
Driving a Suzuki Swift, Ady, against the odds, went on to emerge overall champion in the MCS S-Production Class 2 (SP2) last year after five rounds of racing with his team HIREV SIC Dream Chaser Racing.
Ady, in October, partnered Hayden Haikal to win their class in the Sepang 1000 kilometres endurance race.
“I was absolutely delighted to do well in SP2 last year and it was a great learning experience for me,” said Ady.
“The plan for this year is to move up to the SP1 class which uses more powerful cars such as the Honda Civic FD.
“I have always had a keen interest in touring car racing as my father had been competing in such cars since the 90s.
“My long term goal is to progress up the ranks and compete in TCR Asia, TCR Europe and hopefully one day compete in WTCR.”
Ady added that he had been training on racing simulators since he was 16.
His father, Rashid Ramlan is a racing instructor and highly experienced racer himself.
“My father is actually an instructor and he has often used racing simulators are part of his training module for his students,” said Ady.
“I had been on (real) track only a handful of times prior to being in MCS, most of my training was on simulator.”
SIC had selected the RaceRoom Racing Experience simulator for its e-MCS competition in 2018.