RACE TIME WILL BE REVIEWED, SAYS SIC CHAIRMAN

SEPANG (Malaysia), April 6 (Bernama) -- The race time for the next Malaysian Grand Prix might be changed after the 5pm race has been reviewed, said Sepang International Circuit (SIC) chairman Mokhzani Mahathir.

"The decision of having the race at 5pm is not mine. We discussed it with
FIA (in regards of safety) and FOM (in regards to viewership).

"I had a quick chat with Bernie Ecclestone (President and Chief Executive
Officer of Formula One Management and Formula One Administration) just now
(after the race ended) and we will review it.

"As for exactly at what time we will start next year, we have to review the
timing. What we should have looked at is the fact that summer time for Europe
changed. It is actually seven hours difference instead of eight hours. Our race
at 5pm is 10am in Europe...so, whether 9am will be okay, 8am will also be okay,"
said Mokhzani.

He added that the outcome of Sunday's race and results would be studied
before any decision would be made.

Mokhzani noted that the SIC received a good turnout at this year's Malaysian
Grand Prix although it did not reach the target of 120,000 due to the current
economic slowdown.

"We (SIC) have a lot of people coming in because it was being held at 5pm,
it is a cooler time of the day but the rain was just too heavy.

"We did notice the drop in sales due to economic reason, so we did not
achieve the target that we were hoping for. It is a big drop, especially from
the foreign tourist," he said.

According to SIC's spectator statistics, 97,368 spectators (45,043 on
qualifying round and 52,325 on the race day) came to Sepang Circuit to watch the
race.

The number of spectators recorded for both qualifying and race day last year
was 126,690.

On Sunday's race which was forced to stop due to heavy rain and lightning,
he said it was something that never happened before.

"What we hope would not happen...happened. We had a very, very heavy rain.
Unfortunately, they have to stop the race very early and the race was ended
without having a restart," said Mokhzani.

Following is the official result of the 2009
Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix held at the Sepang Circuit here Sunday (April 5):

Race Official Classification after 31 laps (171.833km):

1. Jenson Button (GBR) Brawn GP Formula 1 Team 55 minutes 30.622 seconds
2. Nick Heidfeld (GER) BMW Sauber F1 Team 55:53.344s
3. Timo Glock (GER) Panasonic Toyota Racing 55:54. 135s
4. Jarno Trulli (ITA) Panasonic Toyota Racing 56:16.795s
5. Ruben Barrichello (BRA) Brawn GP Formula 1 Team 56:17.982s
6. Mark Webber (AUS) Red Bull Racing 56:22.955s
7. Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 56:31.355s
8. Nico Rosberg (GER) AT&T Williams 56:42.198s
9. Felipe Massa (BRA) Scuderia Ferrari Malboro 56:47.554s
10. Sebastien Bourdais (FRA) Scuderia Toro Rosso 57:12.786s
11. Fernando Alonso (ESP) ING Renault F1 Team 57:20.044s
12. Kazuki Nakajima (JPN) AT&T Williams 57:26.752s
13. Nelson Piquet (BRA) ING Renault F1 Team 57:27.335s
14. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Scuderia Ferrari Malboro 57:53.463s

Did Not Finish:

15. Sebastian Vettel (GER) Scuderia Toro Rosso (1 lap)
16. Sebastian Buemi (SUI) Scuderia Toro Rosso (1 lap)
17. Adrian Sutil (GER) Force India F1 Team (1 lap)
18. Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA) Force India F1 Team (2 laps)

Not Classified:

- Robert Kubica (POL) BMW Sauber F1 Team
- Heikki Kovalainen (FIN) Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

-- BERNAMA