Kuala Lumpur unveiled as Malaysian GP City

KUALA LUMPUR Jan 6 - Kuala Lumpur was officially unveiled as the Grand Prix City for the 2003 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix as Sepang International Circuit's international road show hit India's Bollywood City, Mumbai.

At a special session with corporate clients, media members and travel agents, Sepang International Circuit (SIC) - promoters and organisers of the Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix - announced a new promotion campaign named Experience It All at The World's Hottest Race in the Grand Prix City of Kuala Lumpur.

"We are happy to announce a special collaboration between SIC and the City Hall of Kuala Lumpur to promote the event and Kuala Lumpur as a tourist destination for racing fans worldwide to take full opportunity of their trip to the 2003 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix," SIC General Manager Ahmad Mustaffa said in a statement released here today.

Ahmad said SIC would be carrying Kuala Lumpur's name in all its international roadshows, which would also take the promotion team to the United Kingdom, West Asia, Indonesia, China, Singapore and Thailand within the next few weeks.

As the Grand Prix City, Kuala Lumpur would dress up the Malaysian capital in Formula One (F1) colours and would be working closely with the circuit in organising all the promotion activities for the event around the city, he said.

"The formal launch of the campaign and the 2003 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix would be held this Saturday at Dataran Merdeka where a host of activities had been lined up for a comprehensive one-day affair.

"The day's activities would include F1 Walk Hunt, F1 Fancy-Dress Competition, remote control car competition, motorcycle stunt demonstration, F1 car and racing car displays and sale of racing merchandise," Ahmad said.

He said the official launch will be performed by Second Finance Minister Datuk Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis as the main highlight of the night activities, which would include a special performance by artistes and cultural shows.

The SIC was confident of breaching the 100,000-mark for race day attendance this year and aimed to secure five percent from that total attendance from the Indian market, Ahmad said.

The circuit had their biggest race day attendance last year of over 92,500 spectators, but less than 1,000 tickets originated from the Indian market and the circuit was determined to increase that by more than five folds this year.

For that purpose Ahmad said, SIC had appointed Kounni Travel Pte Limited as the race's official ticket agent for the Indian market.

Malaysia will host the second round of the 2003 F1 World Championship at Sepang F1 Circuit from March 21-23 and tickets for the event can be purchased by calling Ticket Hotline at 03-85262222 or by e-mail at ticket@malaysiangp.com.my.