Viper Niza Racing Puts Malaysia On European GT3 Podium In Just Second Season
Malaysia’s Viper Niza Racing has put an all-Malaysian team on the European GT racing map, finishing its second season in the Michelin 24H Series with 3rd overall in the GT3-AM championship and 4th overall in GT3.
The result was secured at the season-ending 24 Hours of Barcelona at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, where Viper Niza Racing started from its first-ever GT3-AM pole position before completing 699 laps of the 4.657km circuit.
The team finished 3rd in GT3-AM and 6th overall in GT3 after 24 hours of racing, taking the chequered flag eight laps behind the winning Up2Race Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo.
More importantly, the Barcelona result cemented a podium finish in the overall GT3-AM championship, a proud moment for a team whose drivers, mechanics and race engineers are all Malaysian.
Eight Points Separated The Top Three
Heading into Barcelona, Viper Niza Racing was already third in the GT3-AM standings, but the championship battle was still open.
The team needed to keep pace with Getspeed Team JR286 and Hofor Racing ahead, while also protecting its position from Continental Racing by Simpson Motorsport.
And Viper Niza Racing did exactly just that.
Douglas Khoo, Dominic Ang, Melvin Moh and Aaron Lim drove the Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO through the 24-hour race without any major incident or technical setback.
There was one brief scare when the car made slight contact with a backmarker Porsche Cayman GT4, but the team recovered and continued its run.
Ang started the race and quickly settled into the top six, with Viper Niza Racing subsequently exchanging the GT3-AM lead with Getspeed Team JR286 and Hofor Racing.
Getspeed’s challenge was later compromised by a wheel bearing problem, while Continental Racing dropped out of contention for the overall championship position.
However, HAAS RT’s BMW M4 GT3 Evo finished second in class in Barcelona, collecting enough points to separate Viper Niza Racing from what otherwise would have been a second-place championship finish.
The final GT3-AM standings tell just how close the fight was:
| Position | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hofor Racing | 152 |
| 2 | Getspeed Team JR286 | 148 |
| 3 | Viper Niza Racing | 144 |
Just eight points separated the top three teams after the season’s endurance races.
Viper Niza Racing also ended the season fourth overall in the GT3 standings with 102 points.
A Step Up From 2025
The 2026 campaign saw a clear progression for Viper Niza Racing.
The team finished fourth overall in GT3-AM and sixth overall in GT3 in its debut 2025 season.
This year, it improved its GT3-AM points haul from 110 to 144 while moving onto the overall championship podium.
Its season was built around consistent results rather than a single standout performance.
Viper Niza Racing opened 2026 with fourth place in GT3-AM and eighth in GT3 at Mugello, followed by fourth in GT3-AM and fifth in GT3 at Spa-Francorchamps.
At Paul Ricard, the team moved up to third in GT3-AM and fifth in GT3 before producing its strongest result of the season at the Nürburgring, finishing second in GT3-AM and third overall in GT3.
Barcelona then provided the pole position and another class podium to close the campaign.
More Than Just A Malaysian Entry
For Team Principal and lead driver Khoo, the achievement was ultimately about proving that an-all Malaysian team can compete at this level.
“We’re not going to delve into what could have been, but celebrate this hard-earned 3rd overall in the Series which was the original target we had set for the team coming into 2026,” he said.
Khoo said simply finishing a 24-hour race is a major challenge, particularly at a circuit where several leading teams suffered significant damage.
He also credited the team’s drivers, mechanics and race engineers for the result, along with its partners and sponsors. Viper Niza Racing is backed by Motul, IWC as its Official Watch Brand, Momentum Autoparts and SPARCO Italy.
The team’s progress is notable because endurance racing leaves very little room for a weak link. Speed matters, but so do reliability, pit work, race strategy and the ability to keep a car running through the night.
Viper Niza Racing has shown that it can put those pieces together in a competitive GT endurance championship far from home.
For its second season, a championship podium is a substantial marker of progress.
And with only eight points separating the top three in GT3-AM, the 2026 season also showed just how small the gap is between the top teams.
CarTok Editor’s Note
Viper Niza Racing’s result is significant because it showed that with proper support, a Malaysian team can perform in one of motorsport’s least forgiving formats.
A 24-hour race exposes everything. Speed might get a team to a good grid position, but reliability, preparation, pit work and consistency are what keeps it there until the chequered flag.
The eight-point gap between the top three also shows that this was not a token podium appearance. The team was properly in the championship fight.
For Malaysian motorsport, having an all-Malaysian operation competing consistently in European GT3 racing gives local drivers and engineers a tangible reference point for what can be achieved beyond domestic competition.
The next challenge for Viper Niza Racing are how much further can it push from here and will more sponsors step in to support it?
