World top car racers join in Rally of Indonesia '97
World top car racers join in Rally of Indonesia '97
JAKARTA (JP): Some of the world's top rally racers have
confirmed their participation in the Rally of Indonesia '97,
scheduled to be held in Medan, North Sumatra, from Sept. 9.
The rally will start at Merdeka Square and participants will
race routes around a number of plantations in North Sumatra.
Committee organizer official Helmy Sungkar said on Thursday
that so far, 12 foreign racers have registered their names to
take part in the rally.
The 12 foreign racers are Carlos Saint (Spain), Colin McRae
(England), Juha Kankunen (Finland), Tommi Makihen (Finland),
Didier Auriol (France), Kenneth Eriksson (Sweden), Richard Burns
(England), Erwin Weber (Germany), Neal Bates (Australia), Wayne
Bell (Australia), Yoshihiro Kataoka (Japan), and Karamit Singh
(Malaysia).
Saint, on a Ford, won last year's event on May 12, when he
entered the grueling race for the first time.
Apart from the foreign racers, Helmy said that Indonesia will
field its local racers for the rally. They are Tonny Hardianto,
Hutomo Mandala Putra, Ricardo Gelael, Bambang Hartono and Arief
Indiarto.
Bob Nasution, chairman of the Indonesian Motor Sports
Association, welcomed the rally when he said "I am grateful
that Indonesia was chosen for a second time to hold the 12th leg
of the world rally championship, and that North Sumatra will be
the venue for this rally."
But Bob hoped that the coming rally would be seen by as many
spectators as possible.
Indrajit Sardjono, the organizing committee's chairman, said
that besides the rally, there will also be an exhibition of the
latest Indonesian cars and racing cars used by the top world
racers.
"The exhibition will be held at the Merdeka Square from Sept.
12 through Sept. 19," Indrajit said.
The organizer has not yet decided who will open the rally but
did say that it will be covered by 45 foreign news agencies, 100
local newspapers and magazines, and a number television networks,
who will broadcast live to 150 countries.
Anteve is one of the local television network which will have
live coverage of the rally.
Pertamina, with its Mesran Prima XI product, is a sponsor for
the rally. Some 30 local technicians will be on hand to help the
racers.
Registration for the rally is open until Sept. 7. Those
interested may register their names and cars at Yayasan Rally
Indonesia, Hotel Danau Toba Internasional, 2nd floor, Medan, or
at its secretariat, Gedung Graha Purnayuda, 14th floor, Medan.
(lnt)