PanGlobal Alex Yoong F1 Driver Search Climaxes With Grand Finals

2004 Champion, Roduwan Rashid at the Formula BMW test last year...(click image to enlarge) - Photo from Max Revson

at the Sepang International Kart Circuit from 10am this Sunday, 18th December

A huge challenge awaits the country's 40 top newcommer-karters as they head to the Grand Finals which is the climax of the 2005 PanGlobal Alex Yoong F1 Driver Search programme this Sunday, 18th December at the Sepang International Kart Circuit.

They will all be chasing the Formula BMW prize drive which will be awarded to the champion of 2005.

These top 40 karters selected from the top five of eight rounds of qualifying rounds held all over Malaysia since March this year comprise two lady karters, six students and 28 young karters in their teens and twenties. More than 320 newcommers took part in the eight qualifying rounds.

The programme starts with registration and sign-in of the grand finalists from 8am followed with five qualifying races from 10am. The 40 finalists will then be grouped into five pre-final races of seven laps each. The fastest five finalists in qualifying will head up the five positions of the five pre-final races with the second five fastest in the second grid and so on.

The top two winners of the five pre-finals races will then advance to the 8 lap grand final race comprising the ten top of the cream racers. The grand final race is scheduled to be run at approximately 1.30pm this sunday.

In the pre-final races, competitors will need to not only be the top two to qualify for the grand final but they will also all have to go all out as their fastest single lap time recorded in the pre-finals will be used to line them up in the ten grid positions in the grand final race.

The winners of the eight qualifying rounds are Raja Mardiah, Muhd Amirullah, Roazri Mustafa, Md. Misbahudin, Lee Kel Vin, Khairul Izwan, Hafidz Rozi and Nazrie Ramli from round 1 to 8 respectively. Although they will be deemed the favourites to be this year's champion, it is by no means a foregone conclusion as all the other grand finalists have recorded very close times to these winners of the qualifying rounds.

PanGlobal Insurance Bhd is the originator and joint organiser of this F1 Driver Search series which had it's inaugural running in 2004 which produced the first champion, Roduwan Rashid who tested the Formula BMW at the end of 2004.

PanGlobal Insurance's senior manager, Sharmila Nadarajah said, "PanGlobal Insurance is proud to be able to contribute to grass-root racing development for Malaysia's youths in a substantial manner through our F1 Driver Search programme in cooperation with Malaysia's only Formula 1 driver, Alex Yoong. We are all awaiting this Sunday's grand finals with great excitement and we can assure all those who turn up will be treated with a day of great racing from 40 of the best newcommer karters in our country."

Alex Yoong, who has returned from Dubai's round 6 of the A1 Grand Prix will be present this Sunday to guide these finalists through their paces, he intimated, "I strongly believe that PanGlobal's programme will bear the fruits of their labour in the coming years. We have unearthed some real gems from these two years of running the F1 Driver Search programme. Our A1 Team Malaysia should also benefit from PanGlobal's efforts as we are on the same tune of ensuring a high volume of new race drivers feeding into higher racing hierachy through these grassroot racing programmes. Our A1 Team Malaysia is in the proccess of looking into a joint cooperation programme with PanGlobal from next year."

"Admission to the grand finals in the Sepang International Kart circuit is free for all spectators and all media are invited to attend and cover the event. Enthusiasts and motorsports fans are also welcomed to attend as well as to speak with Alex or capture some photographic moments with the man himself this Sunday." concluded Sharmila.

GRAND FINALS PROGRAMME AT SEPANG INT. KART CIRCUIT
Sunday, 18th Dec 2005
8.00am – 9.00am: Compulsory Sign-In of all finalists
9.00am – 9.30am: Compulsory attendance of briefing by all finalists
9.30am: Balloting of karts for Qualifiers 1 to 5
9.45am: Qualifier 1 – 5 laps
10.00am: Qualifier 2 – 5 laps
10.15am: Qualifier 3 – 5 laps
10.30am: Qualifier 4 – 5 laps
10.45am: Qualifier 5 – 5 laps
11.00am – 11.15am: Break & Balloting of karts for Pre-Finals
11.30am: Pre-Final 1 – 7 laps (top 2 into Grand Final race)
11.50am: Pre-Final 2 – 7 laps (top 2 into Grand Final race)
12.10pm: Pre-Final 3 – 7 laps (top 2 into Grand Final race)
12.30pm: Pre-Final 4 – 7 laps (top 2 into Grand Final race)
12.50pm: Pre-Final 5 – 7 laps (top 2 into Grand Final race)
1.00pm – 1.30pm: Break, Invitation Race and Lotus Demo
1.30pm: Grand Final race – 8 laps
1.50pm: Presentation Ceremony