More than a thousand fans came to catch a closer look at their favorite MotoGP team this morning at the MotoGP Pit Walkabout session at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC).

The teams are here to participate in the Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix happening this weekend 24th and 25th October.

The fans were mainly made up of MotoGP fans joined by 653 school kids from surrounding schools and 51 special kids from the Kajang Special Kids Home.

Apart from the pit crew and race machines, some of the riders came out to meet the fans.

Earlier in the day the Malaysian Super Series (MSS) had a free practice sessions, five categories shared the one hour slot with Production Bike and Bikerz Mag class sharing the earlier session and followed by the Superbike, Superstock and Supersport class ran in one session.

Most of the riders were still adjusting to the race as this is the only round of five MSS rounds that the bike racers are racing on the full 5.453km long circuit instead of 2.807km of the North circuit.

Charles Hern from the Superstock class clocked the fastest time of the day with 2:18.667 followed by Abd Rahim Muhamad Sidek at 2:19.221 from the Superbike open class.

This was also the first day the Malaysian Wildcard riders, Elly Idzlianizar Ilias and Md Zulfahmi Khairuddin had a chance to ride with the seasoned riders of the MotoGP race.

It started out good for Elly clocking 2:22.747 on his second lap out, improving his lap times as he goes on till he manages to clock 2:18.653 before falling on the next very lap managing 24 place out of 32 racers.

“I made a slight mistake on that lap and fell, luckily no injury as it is turn 1 which is a slow corner,” explained Elly who is racing under the AirAsia 125cc Team Malaysia.

He added that although he have been practicing on this track, “but it’s a whole different feeling when you have riders that have been racing a full season in the 125cc class and that needs some getting used to. I may need some more exposure but I think I can basically see how things are in the next few days.”

For the second rider and team mate Muhammad Zulfahmi only managed 29th place with the fastest time of 2:22.194.

With the newly made ruling, both of the riders qualifies to race on Sunday after completing the practice session within 170percent of the fastest time of the day, which is set by Bradley Smith of Bacanja Aspar Team at 2:14.895.

For qualifying tomorrow the Wildcards will be to set their place on the starting grid, fans can also get a chance to catch some of the riders at the autograph session at noon.

Amongst the exciting on and off track programmes to look forward to are custom bike display and bike stunts, trade and vending booths for MotoGP trinkets and not forgetting concert by Malaysia’s queen of rock - Ella, top Indonesian band Nidji, Jinbara and Hujan on Sunday the 25th at 4.30pm.

Rob Caudill who is known to be the best Rod Stewart impersonator in the world will have his audience up on their feet with his high energy and not to be missed performance on Saturday the 24th Oct at 1.30pm and Sunday the 25th Oct at 2pm.

To ensure that fans have all the convenience of transportation, SIC has taken the necessary measures to provide circuit transfers in collaboration with SkyBus at strategic pick up points in Klang Valley, Nilai, LCCT and KLIA. Tickets are priced reasonably from RM4 to RM15 per way. Parking fees for cars and bikes are priced respectively at RM5.00 and RM2.00 per entry.

Malaysian MotoGP tickets are only RM80 for Main Grandstand and RM30 for K1 Grandstand. Paddock Village passes is RM2,000 for 2 days access with complete set of hospitality in our Paddock Club suites. These tickets are available at SIC ticket outlets in SIC, KL Sentral, Kiosk in LCCT and www.sepangcircuit.com or visit our ticket agents.

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