Shah Alam, Malaysia - Monday May 9th. 2005 ... Seventeen year-old James Russell, ably assisted by highly-experienced co-driver Jagdev Singh, managed to notch-up a second in class and eighth overall in this weekend's third round of the Malaysian Rally Championship. It was a measured drive, in difficult conditions, with mechanical problems also playing a part.

Meanwhile, SR Motorsport's New Zealand-based crews suffered another unlucky weekend, with neither being classified as finishers. Brian Green and Fleur Pedersen retired towards the end of Leg 1, when the rear differential broke in dramatic fashion, making the car undriveable. They were lying third overall at the time. Equally unlucky were Dermott Malley and Steve Smith, who were also in third spot when the turbo destroyed itself in the final block of stages. Dermott and Steve at least notched up a couple of championship points, by finishing second in class, in Leg 1.

James and Jagdev would no doubt have finished higher up the leader board had they not suffered a rear suspension top mount failure in Leg 1, which saw them lose more than ten minutes over three stages. Not fighting for the championship, they also were able to take the time to assist Brian and Fleur on a couple of stages, when their car slid off the road in the soggy and slippery conditions.

Held close to the resort town of Port Dickson, crews were expecting recent dry weather to continue. But, an overnight thunderstorm mellowed into steady hard rain, and left many large areas of standing water to catch out the unwary. Without doubt, Jagdev Singh's decades of experience in Malaysia's plantation stages - co-driving for Malaysia's top driver Karamjit Singh amongst others - were invaluable. He was able to dictate James' pace throughout the rally, giving him some excellent tuition on how to judge different types of surfaces.

Team Principal Paul Russell commented "It was exactly the type of result we wanted from James after two unlucky non-finishes. It is a great confidence booster, and our mission was accomplished. Being able to tap into Jagdev's experience was a real bonus." Regarding the team's two other entries, he said "It was very unfortunate to have two DNFs. Both cars were running solidly, and we should have seen both finish in the top five. I believe the differential failure was just one of those things that happens from time to time, but the failure of a second relatively-new turbo needs investigating" he concluded.

The Malaysian Rally Championship continues in June with an event in the northern state of Perlis, close to the Thai border. SR Motorsport expects to have the same three cars and crews entered.

Before that though, the team expects to enter the newly announced Southeast Asia Rally Championship (SEArally) the first round of which will be held in Rayong Province in Thailand on the first Sunday in June. The Perlis rally will be the second round of the SEArally, which this year will consist of three events in each of Thailand and Malaysia.