Huge interest for Malaysian Grand Prix promotion in Perth

MELBOURNE: Malaysia Airlines staged a hugely successful Malaysian Formula One Grand Prix promotion in Perth over the weekend. The capital of Western Australia staged its first Festival of Speed on Sunday, with a demonstration of a Red Bull Formula One car driven by Australian F1 driver Mark Webber.

Mark Webber

The festival attracted a huge crowd, with many driving to the venue being forced to turn back as it took them some two to three hours to get into the circuit. “The amount of interest in the Malaysia Airlines stand at the Festival of Speed, the first event of its kind to be held in Perth, was not only very noticeable but quite staggering,” former Australian Grand Prix official Geoffrey Harris said yesterday. “The West Australian newspaper had run a 16-page supplement about the festival with a half-page advertisement on a competition to win a trip to the Malaysian Grand Prix.

“A huge number of people were entering the site. It was also noticeable that neither the organiser of the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne nor the event’s airline sponsors Qantas had any presence at the Perth festival. “Yet, if you wanted to entice F1 fans from Perth to KL, they all were at the Barbagallo Raceway. I think Malaysia Airlines kicked a big goal on Sunday. “Webber visited the Malaysian stand to draw the names of two winners who will attend the Sepang Grand Prix, as guests of the organisers.”

Webber was the winner of six grand prix and finished third in this year’s world championship. The Perth youngster on the brink of F1 racing, Daniel Ricciardo, also demonstrated the Red Bull car on Sunday. Ricciardo, 21, was named, as the third driver for the Italian-based Scuderia Toro Rosso – Red Bull’s second, smaller F1 team. The Malaysian GP will be the third round of the F1 world championship and scheduled in mid-April. Webber’s visit with the Red Bull car was the first time a contemporary F1 driver and car had been seen on a track in Perth since 1962. 

— Bernama