Mother Nature showed no mercy to the remaining contestants in this year's MediaCorp Subaru Impreza WRX Challenge: The Asian Face-off. As sheets of rain continued to beat down unrelentingly, the drop in morale was evident in the faces of fatigued contestants.

The thought of the upcoming 7:00pm dinner break did not stop many from dropping out of the competition, bringing the total number of remaining contenders to 41. Thailand, with its four remaining competitors, still led the pack of Asian contenders. China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia are out of the running, whilst the Indonesian and Philippines teams are down to their last members.

In the race still is 36-year-old Singaporean Mary Tan, last year's finalist, who lost out to winner and current record-holder George Lee. Ms Tan, whose palm position is located on the boot of the car, stands at Car Number 8 with another female contender.

"The competition this year is tougher, especially since the remaining contestants also have very good palm positions - on the car boot as well," said Ms. Tan, who had her family, friends and colleagues rooting for her. "The team from Thailand is especially strong this year as well."

Ms Tan is one of the 14 female contestants left, out of the 35 Singaporean contenders remaining, including Ms Apple Joy Lee, the last member of the Philippines team.

In the mid-afternoon, remaining contestants waited with bated breath as a draw was held to determine which group would win a bonus five-minute break at 4.00pm. Contestants from Car 3 and Car 6 had their prayers answered, and gladly took refuge from the rain during their prized bonus break.