Sepang

Sepang is a town and district located in the southern part of the state of Selangor in Malaysia. Formerly a small town, Sepang grew to several recent developments. Sepang District covers an area of 612 square kilometres, and had a population of 212,050 at the 2010 Census (provisional result); it is perhaps best known for hosting the Sepang International Circuit and as the site of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, which serves Kuala Lumpur.

Bagan Lalang in Sepang District is the location of another development which will develop an eco-friendly tourist destination by Sepang Goldcoast.

The Sepang F1 International Circuit is the home of the Malaysian Grand Prix which is the Malaysian leg of the Formula One race and the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix.

The district of Sepang is also famous for the township of Cyberjaya, which is also known as the Silicon Valley of Malaysia vis-à-vis its association with the MSC Malaysia. Currently, over 250 multinational companies are located in Cyberjaya. The capital of Sepang district is Salak Tinggi, which took over from Sepang town.

Valentino Rossi

Valentino Rossi (Italian pronunciation: [valenˈtiːno ˈrossi]; born 16 February 1979) is an Italian professional motorcycle racer and multiple MotoGP World Champion. He is one of the most successful motorcycle racers of all time, with nine Grand Prix World Championships to his name – seven of which are in the premier class.

Following his father, Graziano Rossi, Valentino started racing in Grand Prix in 1996 for Aprilia in the 125cc category and won his first World Championship the following year. From there, he moved up to the 250cc category with Aprilia and won the 250cc World Championship in 1999. After graduating to the premier class in 2000, he won the 500cc World Championship with Honda in 2001, the MotoGP World Championships (also with Honda) in 2002 and 2003, and continued his streak of back-to-back championships by winning the 2004 and 2005 titles after leaving Honda to join Yamaha, before regaining the title in 2008 and retaining it in 2009. He left Yamaha to join Ducati for the 2011 season, but it was confirmed in 2012 that he would rejoin Yamaha for the 2013 and 2014 seasons.

Casey Stoner

Casey Joel Stoner, AM, (born 16 October 1985 in Southport, Queensland, Australia) is a retired Australian professional motorcycle racer, and a two-time MotoGP World Champion, in 2007 and 2011. Many commentators, pundits, as well as former and current riders including Ben Spies, Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden, consider Casey Stoner to be one of the fastest and talented riders to have ever raced a motorcycle.

Born in Southport, Queensland, Australia, Stoner raced from a young age and moved to the United Kingdom to pursue a racing career. After first competing internationally in 2002, Stoner became MotoGP World Champion in 2007 for Ducati Corse. One of Stoner's greatest talents was his ability to ride any motorcycle beyond its limits, even producing race wins on the inferior Ducati after both Honda and Yamaha had forged ahead in development during recent years. Stoner won the MotoGP World Championship riding for Ducati and the win in 2007 remains as Ducati's only championship. During 2008 and 2009 Stoner remained a strong contender, winning multiple races, but not being able to consistently challenge Valentino Rossi and Yamaha for the title during those seasons. In mid-season of 2009 he even missed a few races due to chronic fatigue due to anemia, having started the season strongly. In 2010, Ducati failed to cope with Yamaha and Honda until very late in the season, when Stoner went out on a winning note winning three races.

Sepang International Circuit

The Sepang International Circuit (Malay: Litar Antarabangsa Sepang) is a motorsport race track in Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia. It is located near Kuala Lumpur International Airport, approximately 45 km south of the capital city Kuala Lumpur. It is the venue used for the Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix, A1 Grand Prix, Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix and other major motorsport events.

History

The circuit was designed by German designer Hermann Tilke, who would subsequently design the new facilities in Shanghai, Bahrain, Turkey, Valencia, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Korea, India and the USA.

The circuit was officially inaugurated by the 4th Prime Minister of Malaysia Tun Doktor Mahathir Bin Mohamad on 7 March 1999 at 20:30 MST (UTC+08:00). He subsequently went on to inaugurate the first Moto GP Malaysian Grand Prix on 20 April 1999 (see 1999 Malaysian motorcycle Grand Prix) and the first Formula One Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix on 17 October 1999 (see 1999 Malaysian Grand Prix).