Unveilling of the Malaysian GP Trophy

Sepang International Circuit finally unveils the 2010 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix's trophy here today, with only less than a week left to the major motorsports event to be held in Malaysia.

The trophy was designed and sculptured by Royal Selangor inspired by the checkered flag and the curved shape gives a sense of acceleration and movement. The trophy will be the first sculptured F1 trophy for Malaysia.

"This year, unlike previous editions where we have the drivers' parade, we decided to organise the Student's interview with Formula One drivers, which will be held before the drivers presentation on the starting grid.", SIC CEO, Razlan Razali.

"The drivers will be introduced to the students by the emcee and each student will have the opportunity to ask them one team a question. The ballot draw will decide which student will get which driver or team for the interview session.", he added.

There are also the Formula One classic cars on display here specially flown down by MAS Kargo at the Pavilion Kuala Lumpur and KLIA. The opening ceremony of the 2010 Formula One Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix itself will be an exhilarating event, with a spectacular air show display by the RMAF and Malaysia's own break-dancers performing to entertain the crowd at the circuit.

Some changes to the access of the events held includes the Children's Pit Walk, enabling any parent or guardian with children gain free access to the pit area, an opportunity to see where the teams prepare for the race, autograph session on Sunday at the General Mall Area and the post race concert featuring Wyclef Jean and Fatboy Slim, sponsored by Digi.

Fiat-Yamaha MotoGP Test at Qatar

The Fiat Yamaha Team riders, Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo, concludes their pre-season preparation with another strong performance in the humid Qatar night, both coming in second and sixth fastest. This will be the last time the riders will be on track before the first race, back here, in three weeks time.

Rossi has been concentrating largely on finalising his race preparation today, also finding time to try a new tyre compound for Bridgestone. He completed 20 laps in a long run late in the evening with the aim of gathering more information for the race, which will help the team during the practice sessions when they return here.

"This has been another good day. We've concentrated mostly on the race preparation and it feels like we're now ready for the first race.", Valentino Rossi, setting it 2nd fastest with 1'55.860" at the Losail Circuit, Qatar.

He added that he feels the M1 is great and looking forward to racing it.

Lorenzo continued to make progress and to push as hard as his injured hand would allow, the Spaniard managing to test some new electronic settings amongst other things and improve on his time from Test 1 in Qatar, yesterday. He still felt some pain in the hard braking areas and needed to take a painkilling pill, but he was happy to finish sixth in the circumstances and is confident that he will be back to full form in time for the race.

Lorenzo highlighted, "Today, my hand felt okay, maybe a bit worse than yesterday. Our bike is great, Yamaha have done a fantastic job and you can see this from the strong performance of all the Yamaha riders."

The MotoGP season's opener will take place at Losail, Qatar, on the 9th-11th April 2010.

source: The Fiat Yamaha Team Press Release