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)