1,200 hotel rooms booked for world rally championship

JAKARTA (JP): Although the Gudang Garam World Rally Championships in Medan, North Sumatra, are still two weeks away, world class rally drivers and their teams have already booked 1,200 hotel rooms.

"The rally drivers and their teams have booked 800 hotel rooms in Medan and another 400 in Parapat," Bob Nasution, chairman of the Indonesian Motor Association, said Thursday.

The 1,200 hotel rooms booked by foreign rally drivers would bring a lot of revenue into North Sumatra, said Bob.

"The foreign rally drivers will spend at least US$10 million on accommodation, meals, transportation and service stations."

The Gudang Garam World Rally Championships are from Sept. 19 to Sept. 21.

Five local drivers and 12 world class drivers will battle for top honors in the rally.

The 12 world class drivers are Tommi Makinen of Finland, Carlos Sainz (Spain), Colin McRae (England), Richard Burns (England), Kenneth Eriksson (Scotland), Juha Kakunen (Finland), Didier Auriol (France), Erwin Weber (Germany), Neal Bates (Australia), Wayne Bell (Australia), Yoshihiro Kataoka (Japan) and Karamit Singh (Malaysia). They have all confirmed their participation in the three-day rally.

Sainz won last year in Medan on May 12. He finished second behind Makinen in the world rally championships in Finland.

The local drivers are Tonny Hardianto, Hutomo Mandala Putra, Ricardo Gelael, Bambang Hartono and Arief Indiarto.

The drivers will race 402.47 kilometers in 22 stages. The 22 stages will be divided into three legs.

Leg one, on Sept. 19, will cover a stretch of 137.72 kilometers and run over eight stages.

Leg two, scheduled for Sept. 20 will take the racers over 149.07 km and eight stages before stopping for the second night at beautiful Lake Toba.

The third and final leg, on Sept. 21, will take the drivers 115.68 km, through six stages, back to the finishing line in Medan's Merdeka Square.

Spokesman for the organizers, Helmy Sungkar, said registration for the event would close on Sept. 7. So far, 67 drivers have registered, he said.

"Most of the drivers come from club teams or are representatives of various car makers. There are also individuals who are not members of any teams," Helmy said.

There will also be an exhibition of the latest Indonesian cars, and racing cars used by top world class racers.

The exhibition will be in Merdeka Square from Sept. 12 to Sept. 19. (lnt)