Shah Alam, Malaysia - Tuesday June 28th., 2005 ... New Zealand's Brain Green and Fleur Pedersen, driving an SR Motorsport Subaru Impreza 4WD Turbo, finished a solid second overall in last weekend's fourth round of the Malaysian Rally Championship. They also claimed second spot in the 4WD category of the Southeast Asia Rally Championship (SEArally) which now gives them the championship lead. In addition, they placed first in Group A.

Held under almost cloudless skies in the northern Malaysian state of Perlis, extreme temperatures played a major role in the outcome for SR Motorsport's other two entries. Kiwis Dermott and Patrick Malley required a turbo change early in the rally, as exhaust smoke indicated a possible failure. Then a split hydraulic pipe caused a clutch malfunction and had to be changed during service. All of which saw them lose time, eventually finishing sixth overall, but second in Group A.

In fact, the heat was so intense, that by the time the same clutch pipe split on SR Motorsport's third entry, the team had run out of spares, and the car had to be withdrawn. This was cruel luck for rookie driver James Russell, who was again accompanied by experienced local co-driver Jagdev Singh.

As Team Manager Paul Russell commented, "It is rare for any team to suffer the same failure of the same component so many times during a rally, but we will have to learn from this, and try to find ways to prevent a recurrence. It has had a major effect on James' championship positions, in both the MRC and SEArally, but it is his first year as a driver, so positions are not as important as gaining experience.

"The weekend was clearly successful for us, despite the problems" he continued "and we have once again opened up a good lead in the Team Championship. With only two more events to go in the MRC I hope we can maintain this to the end of the year."

The next round of the Malaysian Rally Championship, which is also the third event in the SEArally Championship, will be held at the bottom of the Peninsular in Johor. This is also Malaysia's premier event, as it counts for the Asia Pacific Rally Championship as well. SR Motorsport's regular Kiwi drivers Brian Green and Dermott Malley, will be competing in their own Mitsubishi Evo 8s, whilst the team also expects to have two or three of its Imprezas entered as well.