Subaru challenge to rope in contestants from Vietnam, Cambodia next year
By Evelyn Choo, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 04 November 2009 1659 hrs

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SINGAPORE : This year's MediaCorp Subaru Impreza WRX Challenge saw good response from seven Southeast Asian countries.

Next year, organisers plan to bring in contestants from two more nations.

40-year-old Mohd Anuar won this year's competition.

It was his second time competing, but Mohd Anuar did not come quite prepared, having ended work a few hours prior to the start of competition.

What's more, he was also down with fever on day one. Nevertheless, he prevailed, beating even the 69 overseas contestants.

And organisers are set to have a stronger Southeast Asian flavour next year.

Glenn Tan, group chief executive of Motor Image, said: "This year's weather was very extreme - there were thunderstorms and a lot of rain ... We were surprised that the contestants lasted a long time, especially the Thai contestants.

"Next year, we're looking to bring more regional countries. We're looking at Vietnam and maybe even Cambodia."

This year's contest also had some drama - when runner-up Santozkumar Poonsolai refused to concede defeat after one of his finger moved slightly out of the palm print.

"The rules of the competition are your hand needs to be on the palm print. If any part of the finger or palm gets out of the print, you're disqualified. So it was very clear. My marshall who caught him with a finger out of the palm print told us, and we had to do what we had to do," said Steven Choo, AVP of Programming, Radio, MediaCorp.

Mohd Anuar may have won the S$81,000 Subaru Impreza, but interestingly the Singaporean who works as a steersman, said he is a biker at heart and plans to buy a Harley soon. - CNA /ls