News Archive » Scuderia Ecosse Takes to the Streets

May 14, 2007

If you could get a race that was in absolute contrast to the last event at Silverstone then this would be it. The GT teams descend on Bucharest this week for round three of the 2007 FIA GT Championship where they will be racing around the streets of the Romanian capital. The track circles the largest building in Europe - the second largest in the world after the Pentagon - the ‘People’s Palace’, built during former dictator Ceausescu’s regime. The palace will provide a magnificent backdrop to the stunning array of GT cars and the sound of the engines reverberating around the buildings will be quite something to behold.

After a difficult race at Silverstone the Scuderia Ecosse team is keen to get back on track and return to its usual top form. In terms of logistics the Romanian race is tough for the teams as it is a new environment and for the truckies, who drive the team transporters to each race, it is a very long way from home.

Jarek Janis:
“This is my first race for Scuderia Ecosse and I am very much looking forward to joining the team. It will be the first time I have driven their Ferrari 430 but I have experience of the car from my racing with Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning in the States so this will not be a problem. It is exciting to go to a new track and I think the location couldn’t be better; a street race in a city centre is going to be very interesting. Like on any other street track we will probably have to cope with bumps and the car has to be easy to drive otherwise the race becomes difficult!”

Tim Mullen:
“I’ve never done a street race before so I’m really looking forward to this. I’ve also never been to Romania before so this is all new to me. I’m hoping for a better weekend than the one we had at Silverstone; my car is second on the championship now, behind the Vilander/Müller Ferrari so we’ve got everything to play for.”

Chris Niarchos:
“I’ve never driven on a street circuit before and I am looking forward to the challenge. I believe Bucharest will be a very exciting event as it will be the first time the people of Romania have seen a spectacle like this and having never been to Romania before I am looking forward to going there as well.”

Andrew Kirkaldy:
“The last time I raced on a street track was years ago in Macau and it was awesome so I’m looking forward to this. The difficulty with street racing is that there is no grip at all at the start of the weekend and then it gets better as more rubber goes down during each session. It’s hard to set the car up as the track is different every time you go out. Tyres will be critical here so we need to make sure we are on the ball.”

Stewart Roden, Scuderia Ecosse team principal:
“This is something new for us but the whole team is excited about doing a street race. It makes things a little more difficult logistically but I think it will be well worth the effort. We have got a lot to do after our problems at Silverstone and we are working hard with Pirelli to make sure we are up at the sharp end again next weekend.”

The Bucharest race will be broadcast live on Men and Motors in the UK with a highlights programme on Sky Sports one week later. The race gets underway at 1415hrs local time on Sunday (Bucharest is two hours ahead of the UK).

ENDS

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