- Shannon Lim crowned Singapore’s favourite Grid Girl for 2013

- 32-year-old Yoga Brata is the first Singaporean to take the chequered flagSingapore

19 September 2013 – Singtel, Title Sponsor of the 2013 Singapore Grand Prix, unveiled Singapore’s top three Grid Girls at The Pit Lane Experience, just 24 hours before race weekend.

For the first time in Singapore Grand Prix history, members of the public were invited onto the famed Marina Bay Street Circuit a day before the Circuit Park’s official opening. Mr S. Iswaran, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Trade and Industry, also joined in the festivities.

Summing up this year’s Formula 1® Singapore Style race carnival, Mr Allen Lew, Country Chief Officer - Singapore, Singtel, said: “This being our sixth consecutive year of sponsorship, we had the opportunity to learn what people enjoy, so we went all out to create a Singapore-Style Formula 1® experience for people from all walks of life. As a result, we are very happy to have seen a tremendous increase in public engagement; with close to a million votes for the Grid Girls, bigger crowds at the roadshows and over a thousand people signing up for The Big Race.

“We are delighted to have found the first Singaporean to take the chequered flag and thank everyone who participated in the activities. We look forward to an adrenaline-filled race weekend where we have also created a unique way for Singapore to show its support for the race – a specially-designed chequered flag which is available in both physical and digital form.”

Close to a million votes for this year’s Singtel Grid Girl

23-year-old student, Shannon Lim won the honour of holding the Singapore flag as this year’s top Singtel Grid Girl. She is one of three winning Grid Girls who will flag off the race this weekend. In second and third place were Jermayne Chow, 23 and Stacey Liu, 21, both also students.

The public got to know this year’s Singtel Grid Girl contenders via The Singapore Factor, a series of Singapore-style challenges that were designed to find Grid Girls who best epitomise the Formula 1® Singapore Style theme. Featuring favourite local pastimes like shopping and eating, the clips were available for viewing on www.singtelrace.com. The winners were determined via SMS and online votes by members of the public.

“Being a Singtel Grid Girl has been an amazing experience. The challenges truly highlighted our unique Singapore culture and I really enjoyed meeting all the F1 fans at the roadshows. I watch the race every year and still can’t quite believe that I will be the one holding the national flag on the starting grid this weekend,” said Miss Lim.

The first Singaporean to take the chequered flag

This year, Singtel custom-designed a chequered flag featuring a single red square to symbolise the uniqueness of the Singapore night race. The champion of The Big Race, Yoga Brata is officially the first Singaporean to take this chequered flag.

The 32-year-old edged out his fellow finalists with a time of 5:29 minutes in the official F1® racing game, winning the much-coveted Grand Prize of a return trip for two to Nice, France, and an F1® driving experience in the prestigious AGS Formula 1® driving school. Mr Brata’s best lap time of 1:47 seconds beats the fastest lap by Nico Hulkenburg in last year’s night race!

The exciting showdown took place over four roadshows which also saw Singapore’s popular celebrity Romeo Tan pair up with Mr Brata to clock in the fastest combined timing in the Team Category. The three other finalists, Lee Qing Xian, Jackson Tham and Muhammad Nazmi each walked away with an Xbox 360 Console with Kinect and Sunday Walkabout tickets.

“It is an honour to be the first Singaporean to take this special chequered flag and have the opportunity to get closer to the race action as I’m a huge F1 fan. It’s unbelievable that I won as I was up against really tough competition. I loved being part of The Singtel Big Race, to experience the thrill of competing in a race event and winning it just made it even more special,” said an ecstatic Mr Brata.

Fans will also be able to bring a piece of the race home with them as 60,000 souvenir Singapore-Style flags will be handed out throughout the race weekend.

The public can catch four of Singapore’s favourite local celebrities – Joanne Peh, Qi Yuwu, Lin Peifen and Romeo Tan – join fellow Singaporeans for the thrilling finale of The Big Race on super screens around Singapore as well as on Singtel mio TV and MediaCorp Channels 5 and 8 on Sunday, 22 September 2013. The clips will also be seen on Fox Sports which is broadcast around the region.

For more information on the 2013 Formula 1® Singtel Singapore Grand Prix and Formula 1® Singapore Style, visit www.singtelrace.com.