Happenings

Giant And Toro Rosso Drivers Host Hypermart Sweep For Orphans

BY Burnpavement

Giant, MalaysiaÂ’'s leading hypermarket chain teamed up with two drivers of the Scuderia Toro Rosso in a special race for charity to the cheers of lunch-time shoppers at the hypermarket in Shah Alam.

The drivers Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari led a team of three orphans each in a race to sweep up as many items as they can from the hypermarket shelves for Rumah Aman Shah Alam. Each team was given 10 minutes to “sweep” the aisles. The Giant Supermarket Sweep, a tie-up between Giant and Scuderia Toro Rosso, sister team of current F1 world champions Red Bull Racing, was organised in conjunction with this weekend’'s F1 race.

Buemi and Alguersuari were joined by a team from Giant and the local media at this event, which made the race all the more exciting. Each team had eight minutes to gather as many items in as many shopping carts as they can. The team with the most value was declared the winner. As it turned out, Buemi'Â’s team emerged winners with more than RM3,300 worth of shopping, much to the delight of his three little team mates, who each walked away with a Toro Rosso cap and bag pack as prizes.

But they were not the only winners on the day as all the groceries, worth a whooping RM10,000, that were swept up by the teams were donated to the orphanage by Giant, along with RM5,000 worth of shopping vouchers. The event was a smashing success for everyone involved. For the Toro Rosso drivers, it was not everyday that they get to race in a hypermarket aisle in the name of charity. For the children they not only got what they wanted for themselves and their home, but was given the rare opportunity of being up close with their sporting heroes. For Giant, the event represented yet another way of positively impacting the lives of the community it does business in.

This is the sixth-year, Scuderia Toro Rosso is taking part in the F1 World Championship. Buemi and his team mate Alguersuari are among two of the youngest drivers currently in F1. Both are graduates of the Red Bull Junior Driver Programme, which also produced current F1 driver world champion Sebastian Vettel.

Scuderia Toro Rosso is also hoping to take a giant leap forward on track this season and is therefore pleased to announce a tie up with Giant. Giant pioneered the concept of modern supermarket shopping in Malaysia when it started trading almost seventy years ago. Currently, this is a one race deal which will see the Giant logo appear on the barge boards and the nose of both STR6 cars and on the drivers’ race suits and shirts and the team-principal’s shirt over all three days of track action at the Malaysian Grand Prix this coming weekend.