Kuala Lumpur, 16 July 2009 – Some 150 students, academics and guests got a sneak peek at the Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2010 today as five selected student teams from Malaysia and Singapore took the vehicles they had designed and built for a demonstration run around Sepang International Circuit’s north track. This preview was specially organised for students to test out the track where the inaugural Shell Eco-marathon Asia will take place next year. The event saw two teams from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, one from the National University of Singapore (NUS), and two from the ITE (Institute of Technical Education) College West in Singapore test run their cars at the Sepang track. Shell Malaysia Chairman, Dato’ Saw Choo Boon said: “The Shell Eco-marathon is a major educational project that encourages and fosters innovation in which students work together to explore potential solutions to both current and future transport and energy challenges. “We hope today’s event will generate greater interest for the challenge so that more institutions of higher learning and schools will consider taking part. It is always easier once they have learnt more about the whole event and can see what is expected of them in order to prepare their vehicles for next year's competition,” he added. The competition in 2010 is fully supported by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia and sponsored by the Sepang International Circuit and Autodesk. The Shell Eco-marathon is aimed at encouraging participants to find solutions to produce fuel-efficient vehicles that can travel the furthest distance using the least amount of fuel. In Europe and in the Americas, the Shell Eco-marathon events have had a long tradition of attracting top engineering teams from schools and colleges to demonstrate their innovations in fuel efficiency over different platforms. The recent Shell Eco-marathon Europe held in Berlin in May this year saw an increase in participation from Asia. There were three teams from Singapore, four teams from Pakistan, and one each from Thailand, China and Malaysia. To-date more than 20 educational institutions from Indonesia, Pakistan, Singapore, India, Malaysia and China have indicated interest in participating in the Shell Eco-marathon Asia to be held in Kuala Lumpur next year. The Shell Eco-marathon Asia will take place from 8 to 10 July 2010. Malaysia has been selected to host the challenge for three consecutive years from 2010. "Malaysia has been chosen to host this first Asian event because of its importance among Shell’s Asian heartlands. The country’s excellent infrastructure and this wonderful facility here in Sepang also make this an ideal venue for us to host the teams that will come from all round the region for the inaugural event next year," said Tan Chong Meng, Shell's Executive Vice President of Global Business to Business who delivered the keynote address for the Sustainable Mobility dialogue. For the inaugural Shell Eco-marathon Asia, the first 10 student teams from Asia to register and compete at the race will be eligible to receive USD1,000 per team. Terms and conditions apply. Official registration for Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2010 will open on 1 September 2009 from 12 noon (GMT+8). Those interested can register online at www.shell.com/eco-marathon. For more information, e-mail Eco-Marathon-Asia@shell.com. - END - ENQUIRIES:
For further editorial information, please contact Shell Malaysia Media Relations: Cindy Lopez at tel: 03 2091 3719, email: cindy.lopez@shell.com or Stephanie Khoo at tel: 603 – 2091 2115, email: stephanie.khoo@shell.com | 
