Faye Kusairi

 

Faye Kusairi, birth name Dayangku Faratiwan Adnil Binti Awang Kusairi, is a Malaysian driver who is best known for her win in the 2016 Sepang 1000km, as part of a four-driver team in a Proton Suprima.

She has been active in motorsport since 2012 and circuit racing since 2016. Her career began in gymkhana-style events.

Her first races were in the Malaysian Speed Festival and was fourth in the 1600 Race Car series, driving a Honda Jazz. Her best finish was third. Her Sepang win came as part of the Mayhem-FX Tuning team. 

The following year, she formed a female team with Sharina Ramlle for the MSF series, although they did not do the full season. 

She came back to racing in the MSF Super Production series in 2019 after a one-year hiatus, sharing a Honda Civic with Syahmi Mahzan. Her campaign only lasted for the first two races and she did not finish either.

At the end of the year, she returned to the Sepang 1000km in a Proton Saga, finishing sixth overall alongside Leona Chin and Nurul Husna Nasharuddin. All four team members were recruited through the MSF R3 Ladies Racers Search, which was both a mentoring programme for existing women racing in MSF series and a talent search for unaffiliated drivers. The race was the first time that the three drivers had competed together and they had started from 26th and last due to a problem in qualifying.

Away from the track, she is a TV and film actress. Acting as a professional came after she first became involved with cars; her first TV appearances were in 2013.

She was pregnant for a good chunk of 2020 and has spoken since about developing the facial nerve disorder Bell’s Palsy since then.

(Image copyright Faye Kusairi) 

Red Bull Rookies

 

The 2009 Rookies

The Red Bull Rookies became a familiar sight in Malaysian endurance racing between 2008 and 2014. The first Female Driver Search was held in 2007 and the chosen drivers raced a Honda DC2 in the Merdeka Millennium Endurance race. The first official Rookies team was assembled in 2008 and consisted of Malaysian women selected at special events.

The driver search expanded to Singapore and Brunei in 2010. A few male drivers were assessed in 2011.

Each year, a couple of Rookies were retained as “Senior Rookies” to mentor the newcomers alongside non-driving manager Kenvin Low. 

Proton cars were used by later Rookies teams, who usually took part in the Sepang 1000km as well as the Merdeka race.

Like many driver search schemes, it had limited success in launching long-term careers for many of its entrants, although Leona Chin is still racing in 2021 and Siti Shahkirah Shaharul has competed quite extensively away from the team.

Some initial selection events were held in 2014, but no 2015 team was assembled and the project was quietly retired. 

Below is a list of Rookies recruits between 2007 and 2013. Each team competed the season following their selection. Male drivers’ names are in italics.

2007 (Red Bull Female Driver Search)

Philippa Yoong

Deanna Yusoff

Hiroko Nakamura

2008

Puteri Ayu Jasmin

Leona Chin

Baizura Ruslan

Norlina Johor

2009

Diana Chin

Nur Hayati Omar

2010

Malaysia

Carmen Lim

Lee Hui Jing

Brunei

Melline Jaini

Liana Radzak

2011

Malaysia

Siti Shahkirah Shaharul

Mark Darwin

Singapore

Amirah Mokhtar

Emmiline Ang

Brunei

Fauziah Haziz

2012

Singapore

Melissa Huang

Brunei

Siti Zirwatul

2013

Malaysia

Geraldine Read

Brunei

Illy Aquila Fateen Ismail

(Image from http://malaysianracedriver.blogspot.com/)

Women drivers in the Sepang 1000km

 

Faye Kusairi, Nurul Husna Nasharuddin and Leona Chin in 2019

The Sepang 1000km is an annual race for touring cars, normally lasting somewhere between eight and nine hours. It evolved from the Merdeka Millennium Endurance race, held at the same circuit, which included both saloons and sportscars and ran over twelve hours. It was originally run to celebrate the festival of Merdeka (Malaysian independence day).

Cars are limited to 1900cc and are mostly models from Asian manufacturers, including Malaysia’s own Proton.

Women have started every single edition of the race. For several seasons, the Red Bull Rookies team fielded an all-female crew. The 1000km’s first female winner was Faye Kusairi in 2016, driving a Proton as part of a four-person team.

All known women entrants are listed below, although there may be others I have not identified due to language barriers. In the case of a mixed team, the woman’s name always comes first and male drivers’ names are in italics.

2009 

Leona Chin/Puteri Ayu Jasmin/Diana Chin/Nur Hayati Omar (Honda DC2) - 21st

Carmen Lim/Akina Teo/Amir - (Proton Satria) - DNF

2010

Philippa Yoong/Hiroko Nakamura/Frank Yee (Proton Satria Neo) - 15th

Puteri Ayu Jasmin/Noradzlianayati Abdul Radzak/Carmen Lim/Melline Jaini (Honda DC2) - 28th

2011

Puteri Ayu Jasmin/Emmiline Ang/Fauziah Haziz (Honda DC2) - 15th

Hiroko Nakamura/Eric Yeo/Melvin Choo (Proton Satria) - DNF

Amirah Mokhtar/Siti Shahkirah Shaharul/Mark Darwin (Proton Satria) - DNF

2012

Melissa Huang/Siti Zirwatul (Proton Satria) - 13th

2013

Siti Shahkirah Shaharul/Siti Zirwatul Irdah (Proton Satria Neo) - 11th

2014

Nurul Husna Nasharuddin/KJ Yee/YC Foo - (Proton Satria Neo) 9th

Siti Shahkirah Shaharul/Illy Aquila/Geraldine Read (Proton Satria Neo) - 12th

2015

Nurul Husna Nasharuddin/YC Foo/KJ Yee/Nasharuddin (Suzuki Swift) - 8th

Geraldine Read/Wong Yat Fan (Suzuki Swift) - DNF

2016

Faye Kusairi/Kefili Othman/Djan Ley/Zizan Razak (Proton Suprima S) - winners

2017

Leona Chin/Kenneth Shak/Woo Siew Chong/Chong Yee Hing (Suzuki Swift) - 9th

Rina Ito/Tomokazu Sato/Ken Foo Kwok Hsing (Toyota Vios) - 16th

2018

Leona Chin/Dato Nasri Said/Kefili Othman/Alifa Hamdan (Toyota Vios) - 7th

Joan Lee/Steven Wan/Goh Eng Peng (Toyota Vios) - 18th

Nurul Husna Nasharuddin/Shasha Shafie/Boey Chai (Suzuki Swift) - 31st

2019

Leona Chin/Nurul Husna Nasharuddin/Faye Kusairi (Proton Saga) - 6th

Angeline Lee/Siti Shahkirah Shaharul (Toyota Vios) - 28th

2020

No race held

2021

Leona Chin/Mohd Nasri Bin Md Said/Yik Choon/Akina Teo (Suzuki Swift) - winners

Natasha Seatter/Nurul Husna Nasharuddin/Muizuddin Musyaffa (Honda City) - 29th

Dilys Lee/Alfred Chong Seong Huat/Choo Chia Chin (Proton Satria Neo) - 30th

Shasha Shafie/Fikri Rahmin/Syafiq Samsudin (Toyota Vios) - 31st

2022

Rina Ito/Takahisa Ohno/Karurosu Honda/Ng Kim Ngee (Suzuki Swift) - 13th

Nurul Auni Nasharuddin/Mohd Yuszaidi/Nasharuddin Abd Aziz (Toyota Vios) - 33rd

Siti Shahkirah Shaharul/Monica Picca/Zulaikha Ahmad (Suzuki Swift) - 42nd

Leona Chin/Adele Lew (Toyota Vios) - 44th

Akina Teo Chai Yong/Eddie Lew Karwai (Toyota Vios) - DNF

2023

Gladys Lam/Roni Risman/Azmeer Yusri Yusof (Suzuki Swift) - 32nd

Nurul Auni Nasharduddin/Loke Yin Yi (Toyota Vios) - 37th

Vicky Law(?)/Ng Teck Ming/Wai Siu Kit/Wong Ka Chun Kendrew (Suzuki Swift) - 46th

Leona Chin/Mark Chew Shin Wong/Danny Chin Hwa Lip (Suzuki Swift) - 58th

2024

Sophia Zara/Mohd Shafiq Samsudin/Kelvin Yap Su Deng (Toyota Vios) - 39th

Genevieve Ooi/Charlie Hine/Alex Hine (Suzuki Swift Sport) - 48th

Vicky Law(?)/Wai Siu Kit/Wong Ka Chun Kendrew (Suzuki Swift) - NC

(Image copyright Proton)