BIG YEAR AHEAD FOR MALAYSIAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP

Kuala Lumpur, 16 March, 2008 – The 2008 Season of the Malaysian Rally Championship (MRC) was officially launched tonight with organizers promising a big year ahead for the extreme sport.

Tengku Shaharin Abu Bakar Almarhum Tengku Suleiman, Director of Wheel Sport Management Sdn Bhd (WSM), Malaysia’s leading motor rally promoter, said the MRC would be much more visible this year in the media and to the public.

“Each Round of the MRC will be celebrated with a weekend carnival of activities for the public including stunt driving exhibitions, live entertainment and fun activities for the whole family. The public will certainly know the MRC is in town and we hope they will come out to spend a day or the weekend with us experiencing the excitement and thrill of rallying, supporting the competitors and having some good family fun at the same time,” said Tengku Shaharin.

Tengku Shaharin said part of the funding for this year’s MRC marketing push comes from Ancom Berhad which acquired 51% of WSM in August 2007. A year prior, Ancom became the title sponsor of the Ancom FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) held in Johor, an event that has been managed successfully by Wheel Sport Management since year 2003. The APRC is also one of the Rounds of the Malaysian Rally Championship.

Tengku Shaharin expressed hope that once the profile of the MRC was raised, other sponsors from the Government and private sectors would see the value and benefits of supporting the Championship and this would give impetus to Malaysia’s thrust to host the World Rally Championship (WRC) in 2010.

The 2008 Season Launch event held at Dewan Merak Kayangan Felda and attended by participants, organizers, media and Felda guests, doubled as the prize-giving ceremony for the 2007 Felda-AAM Malaysian Rally Championship Season. Winners in all classifications were presented with their well-deserved trophies and prize money.

Karamjit Singh and co-driver Jagdev Singh were Overall Winners of the Championship, P12 winners and placed third in the Team category. Second place overall Driver went to Kan Chee Hong of Perodua M5 Racing Team and third overall to Benny Lautan from Indonesia. While Co-Driver Category went to Edwin Nasution of Indonesia (in Second place) of and Bernard Chin (Third Place).

Champions in the Team category were Perodua M5 Racing Team with SR Motorsport as runners up.

The first round of six for the 2008 Malaysian Rally Championship will be flagged-off in Senawang, Negeri Sembilan on Saturday 29 March with the Stages being held in the Felda palm-oil plantations of Bahau over that weekend.

More than twenty cars will be participating including teams from Indonesia, Japan and New Zealand.

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