Razlan Razali on Sepang’s Preparations for Malaysian GP

By Ismail Uddin

iSportconnect spoke exclusively to Sepang International Circuit CEO Razlan Razali about this year’s race including the troubling news about the lost airplane MH370 and how that has affected preparations.

How are preparations going for this year’s F1 race?

Preparations are well underway. Formula 1 cars and equipment have arrived. Formula 1 has already started setting up in certain areas.

How many tickets have you sold?

We are targeting 90,000 tickets by Sunday. We have sold slightly more than 60% so far. Up until the race weekend we expect more interest, traditionally locals buy more near the end.

Malaysia has recently been hit with the tragedy of a lost airplane. Do you feel the attention of the public to this recent tragedy deflect away from the upcoming race?

Off course the MH370 incident is getting a lot of attention obviously. It has affected mainly Malaysians as it involves our national Airline. It is an unprecedented situation so it may distract people from Formula 1 and buying tickets as well it should be. In some ways it does affect the current excitement about the GP and distract them from attending Formula 1 at this moment. But we will wait and see close to the race whether there are any changes or not.

Was there any point where you considered postponing or cancelling the event due to this crisis?

No I think that was not an option. The race will go on. There was no indication from Formula 1 and neither did we request for the round to be postponed or rescheduled.

The month of March is a very busy month for Malaysia in terms of tourism activities. This year is visit Malaysia year 2013 and in conjunction with Formula 1 as one of the main attractions for Visit Malaysia year, there have been a lot of events planned around F1 so it’s very very difficult to postpone it. The show must go on.

What is Sepang’s future with Formula 1? Is there a long term future with the sport?

Our contract ends 2015 next year. We will in some ways discuss the way forward this weekend but we do have some time to decide whether we want to continue beyond 2015 or not.

What other Motorsport series do you host? Is there any new series that will come to the circuit?

Besides F1 and MotoGP, we just confirmed for the first time since the 1993, the World Superbike championship which will take place on the 6^th to 8^th June. This is an additional international event that we are hosting because the interest for two wheels is growing. It’s getting bigger and bigger.

In terms of other events, this all depends on the reception we get in the local markets because any successful motorsport event has to be attended by massive spectators. We feel that because of the interest in two wheels we can afford to have bike events. When it comes to four wheels we have to do our research to see if we can attract the masses or not, so far we have not identified any car events besides F1 for Sepang.

What’s the Current Financial Health of Sepang?

Our track is more or less utilised 96% during the year including international events like F1, Moto GP and World Superbike.

We are self-sustainable. We are looking at long-term master plan of the circuit which includes light industrial growth.   We hope to launch our hotel in about 16 months. But in terms of sustainability we are doing very good at the moment. There is a lot of interest in Motorsport and a lot of interest for non-motorsport events so we are very pleased with that.

---

Tan Sri Dato’ Seri. Ahmad Razlan bin Ahmad Razali serves as Chief Executive Officer of Sepang International Circuit. Tan Sri Dato’ Seri. He has been in that position since 2008.

Bin Ahmad Razali serves as Acting Chief Executive Officer of Malaysian Association of Motorsports. He served as Senior Manager of Business Development, Vice President and Head of the Internal Audit Division of BKCB from 1997 to 2000.

Tan Sri Dato’ Seri. Bin Ahmad Razali began his accounting profession in 1994 with Price Waterhouse, where he was involved in corporate finance related work.

He served as the Managing Director of Artic Building and Civil Engineering Sdn Bhd since 1997. From 1997 to 2004, he was involved in the construction, property development and information technology industry.

From 2005 to 2008, he was actively involved in the event promotion management, motor sports management and publishing.