SEPANG, Malaysia: Good-looking, nicely built and friendly - that's what Japanese race queens think of Malaysian men.

"I was surprised when some of them spoke to me in Japanese," said Haruna Jitsu, 21, a three-time race queen at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) yesterday.

She is one of four 2008 Super GT International Series Malaysia race queens for team Nismo. Jitsu arrived here along with Akari Arimura and Mami Matsumoto, both 22, and Mai Sakamoto, 23, on Friday evening.

"We are excited to be here. It is our first time in Malaysia and we like it," said Matsumoto, adding that local men smiled a lot and were a little sexy.

"The food is great. It's spicy," she added.

All four girls said men approached them frequently for photos and dates.

"We don't really entertain requests for dates, just photos," they said.

Arimura, a dentist by training, said she had always wanted to be a top-class umbrella girl.

"Until three years ago, I worked as a dentist. I gave it up as I felt I needed a change, something more exciting and fun," she said.

Sakamoto said she auditioned for the job of race queen because she was passionate about automobiles.

Every year, thousands of Japanese girls audition for the highly appealing and glamorous race queen job.

A spokesman for team Nismo said candidates for the job had to fulfil many criteria.

"She must be at least 163cm tall and under 23 years old. These girls go through a very tough audition. They need to be really good to be selected," she said.

The Super GT International Series, which enters Round 4 this weekend, is a tense battle around the challenging 5.543km Sepang Circuit.

Thousands of people flocked to SIC to watch their favourite teams vie for top pole positions yesterday. A bigger crowd is expected today.

Additional attractions at the circuit today include the new Aston Martin Asia Cup, Asian Supercar Series, Asian Formula Renault Championship and Formula V6 Asia Series.