Super Trofeo Stories: Hairie and Haziq Zariel Oh

Hairie Zariel Oh had ‘just three seconds’ to make his mind up about whether or not to go racing. That’s because his younger brother Haziq made it so.

The Malaysian siblings had always held a passion for motorsport and cars but, until the time came, the opportunity to actually do it remained fleeting.

Both are successful businessmen, both remain extremely preoccupied away from a Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia race weekend as well, but the desire to fulfil their childhood dreams at the wheel of a Lamborghini Huracán on some of the continent’s best tracks meant this was too good a chance to turn down.

Hairie and Haziq race in the Lamborghini Cup class of Super Trofeo Asia, reserved for amateur novice drivers. They don’t hide the fact that they are not youthful go-getters aiming to forge a professional career in motorsport.

That’s not what LB Cup is all about, but don’t be fooled into thinking that it’s just a bunch of amateurs having a bit of fun and going ‘Sunday driving’. In fact, the competition can be just as fierce at the back of the grid as it is at the sharp end.

Add to the equation that both Hairie and Haziq maintain that healthy sibling rivalry too, and you’ve got a lot of determination and drive inside the car.

“After last year, we are more comfortable with the car and the championship and we are even more motivated to win the LB Cup title this year,” explains Haziq.

“This year, going into the season, we didn’t really have any expectations, but the aim for us is to be competitive and move up into the Am category next year and stay in Super Trofeo for the next few years.”

For Hairie, the step into motorsport was a long process, explaining that he grew up with ‘very protective parents’ but the objective to race, or at least drive, was a key part of his upbringing.

He eventually got enough money, via the unusual route of appearing on a Malaysian reality television show, to be able to race competitively on-track.

“I saved up my weekly allowance for as long as I could when I was younger and would go some go-karting, sort of behind the scenes!” admits Hairie.

“Other kids were maybe going to the mall and spending their money there, but I was saving for every kart session I could manage.

“And when I was about 20 years old, there was this television show, which was a bit like American Idol…it was a reality TV show where you could receive money to pursue your dreams and everything. So, I joined it and took my helmet, thinking that it would be a bit of a long shot, but I got through the first couple of rounds and then I got some testing with a team.

“That was my first experience in racing, I had about three days to be part of the professional setup and with professional coaching.”

If racing had always been a dream for Hairie, it was Haziq who became the driving force behind the pair’s entry into Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia.  After sampling other machinery in 2020, Haziq wanted to race together with his brother, and gave him something of an ultimatum.

“I raced by myself in Malaysia, but I realised that it was quite a commitment,” Haziq says.

“I was just running a car by myself, budget was tough, I didn’t have a team working with me or anything. Investing in a car is like investing in business, but I was finding that I could put some more money into hiring a crew and mechanics.

“And then I wanted a new challenge, to take more risks. We work very, very hard and I wanted to do something for us, to follow our passions.

“So, I got an offer from Lamborghini Kuala Lumpur, and I had to say yes immediately, and then I asked Hairie what he wanted to do, and I gave him like three seconds to answer!”

Three seconds on the track is not a lot of time, but the decision was ultimately an easy one to make for Hairie, who accepted the task of competing in the Super Trofeo Asia championship for the first time in 2023.

They had a strong season and showed speed from the opening round on home soil in Sepang, despite a somewhat rocky start to the year in which the entire programme was thrown into immediate jeopardy.

“I had a major crash at Sepang,” begins Hairie. “And it basically destroyed the car, wrote it off, and it was at this point that we realised how dangerous the sport can actually be.

“Now, every time we step into the car, we hug each other as if it is the last time we are getting in the car. Haziq also had a big crash at Fuji, where he was hit after he spun, and it cracked the seat.

“So, we lost two cars during the season and had to rent the third car from Top Speed for the rest of the year, and we finished second in the championship!”

Coming back from a crash of this magnitude for any driver can be a challenging experience, but for someone whose life does not revolve solely around racing, the recovery curve is even steeper.

It’s not just the physical and financial comeback that proved difficult for Hairie, but the mental hurdle of getting back in the car and finding the limit once more too.

With that first victory under their belt, the siblings quickly found their feet in the class and began to build momentum towards a title push. Despite series veteran and multiple champion Supachai getting an early head start, both Hairie and Haziq were able to take the fight down to the wire in Vallelunga, narrowly missing out on the championship.
What Hairie and Haziq are keen to stress, however, is the fun element to their racing. They love it and feel like their sibling relationship is stronger for it.

“Racing is experiencing the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows, right?” says Haziq. “And we go through it together and we support and motivate each other which is a really nice thing.

“That has helped our relationship get better and better; it was good to start with but now we get along even more.

“We have to go through the weekend together and experience everything together, set out targets and try to achieve them. But it’s also about having fun together.

And it shows too: they’ve enjoyed a near-perfect first half of the season in Asia too, taking five victories out of six races, five pole positions and a third place. The pair have a16-point margin over Supachai in the standings, with Iron Lynx’s Kumar Prabakaran a further 20 points back in third.