Two months of frantic action for Saladin Rallying.

Participating in the World Rally Championship can never be described as relaxed - but by comparison with the next two months, the pace to date has been relatively manageable. Now though the team faces two European events separated by less than two weeks, followed by the final Super 1600 Championship event in November. And in the small gaps between events, there will be further testing, and experimentation with car setups.

Saladin Mazlan and Tim Sturla are already en-route to Italy to commence their recce for the forthcoming Rallye Sanremo - which takes place October 5th-7th. They will remain in Europe in order to arrive in Corsica, France in good time for the Tour de Corse, which will be held from October 19th to 21st. Added to their hectic schedule has been both car testing and driver/co-driver development training in the UK over the past few weeks, and further car testing will be done between events. Only a small breather will be available for the hard-working crew before the Network Q Rally of Great Britain - which gets underway towards the end of November.

Team Director Paul Russell noted "Most people don't realize the extent of the commitment needed at this level of the sport. It's not just a matter of turning up for a three-day rally. All teams in the Championship are working constantly to improve the performance of the car and crew, and we must keep pace in order to produce competitive results" he said.

Saladin, who has just completed an intensive week of pace note training, reported back to the team in Malaysia, he was very satisfied with the progress made. But, he mentioned - "as with a golf swing, improvements have to be made steadily and continuously, so that each event will show a performance gain." Between each rally, results will be carefully analyzed with the team's consultants, and problems resolved.

For a Malaysian driver with experience of gravel plantation roads, the steep and paved mountain roads of both Sanremo and Corsica, with hair-raising slopes to the sides, will present a huge challenge. "As with all events this year, we only expect the crew to learn the stages and to post creditable times" said Managing Director Ali Mazlan. "Championship points are nice - and would be a bonus, but all top drivers will say they need five years to learn an event, and so we are simply hoping for the crew to finish" he continued.

But much has been done in the past couple of months to increase the performance level of the car and team, and everyone is confident of higher placings in the second half of the Championship.