News Archive » Race Around the Palace
August 19, 2008
The FIA GT Championship will be racing around the streets of Bucharest in
Romania this weekend and if the weather forecast is to be believed it’s
going to be a hot one! The Bucharest track has a magnificent backdrop in the
form of the ‘People’s Palace’, the second largest building
in the world, built during former dictator Ceausescu’s regime.
The format has changed for this event; instead of the usual two-hour race
on the Sunday the Bucharest meeting will stage a one-hour race on Saturday
evening and another one-hour race on Sunday. Points will not be awarded during
race one but the result still counts as it will set the grid for race two.
Both of the races will feature a mandatory pit-stop which must take place between
the 23rd and 37th minute of each race and each driver must complete a minimum
stint of 25 minutes.
Chris Niarchos likes the Bucharest track and thinks that he and Tim Mullen
can get a good result this weekend.
I really enjoyed Bucharest last year,” said Chris. “It’s
a scary track but it really suited me and I was quick during testing. Street
circuits like this put me at an advantage as it’s a short, squirt track
where you have to muscle the car around. We’re still in the fight for
second in the Teams’ Championship; it’s going to be very tough
catching BMS after their victory at Spa but I love a challenge!”
Andrew Kirkaldy also believes he and Rob Bell are in for a good result at
Bucharest as the positive momentum builds within the team.
“We’ve been getting better and better as we go through the FIA
GT season,” he said. “The team works incredibly well now so we’ve
no reason to think we can’t get a good result here. It will be interesting
with the one-hour race format. We’ll have to be very careful in race
one to make sure we still have a car for race two when the points are scored.”
The weekend kicks off on Thursday evening when the GT cars will take to the
city streets for a parade around Bucharest.
USEFUL INFORMATION
FIA GT Championship – Round 6 – Bucharest, Romania – 23/24
August 2008
TIMETABLE
(all times local)
THURSDAY
2000 GT Parade
FRIDAY
1500-1620 Free Practice
SATURDAY
0845-1005 Pre-Qualifying
1315-1350 Qualifying
1815-1915 Race 1
SUNDAY
1000-1030 Warm Up
1415-1515 Race 2
TELEVISION SCHEDULE
The FIA GT Championship is broadcast in the UK on Motors TV with highlights
programming on Sky Sports and Channel 4. Please check TV listings on the
day for up-to-date transmission times.
LIVE TIMING
For all the timesheets and live timing from the FIA GT race meetings please
go to http://www.mstworld.com/msportrounds.aspx?year=2.
ENDS
« Back to news |