KUALA LUMPUR: After three exciting years, the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) today announced their decision to not renew their contract to host the FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) Malaysian Round.
Announcing this today, SIC chief executive officer Datuk Razlan Razali said this was due to the present financial climate and SIC’s commitments to other endeavours.
“With SIC’s contract to host the WorldSBK ending this year, we decided not to continue hosting this event in Sepang.
“Due to the current financial climate and SIC’s financial commitments to improve our existing facilities as well as build new ones, it is the most prudent decision at this point.
“As we are looking to avoid financial risks at the moment, we feel it is best to reserve resources for our two biggest international events – the Formula 1 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix and the Shell Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix.
“Nevertheless, we may consider hosting WorldSBK again in the future when the financial climate improves and if our market insights indicate great interest and demand to bring it back,” he said.
The agreement to host the WorldSBK in Sepang was inked two years ago in Assen between SIC and rights holders DORNA.
Malaysia's Zaqhwan Zaidi participated as a wildcard entry in the Malaysian round that year, finishing in ninth place.
Last year, SIC brought in two-time WorldSBK champion Max Biaggi to ride in the Malaysian round as a wildcard entry.
This year, Malaysia for the first time had a full-season entry through Zulfahmi Khairuddin who raced in the FIM Supersport World Championship for Team Orelac Racing.
“The excitement generated by Fahmi’s participation and great performance has been very good for the event. It is also bittersweet for us as it caps a memorable three years for us on a high.
"Hosting the WorldSBK has been meaningful to the SIC team and we will miss organising the event. However, when we look at all the factors as a whole, the decision not to continue hosting the WorldSBK in Sepang is the best one at the moment.
"We hope the future will offer other opportunities to bring WorldSBK back to Malaysia.
Nevertheless, we will continue to support Fahmi´s career through to 2017, inside the Supersport FIM World Championship in all the ways we can,” added Razlan.