Zhuhai International Circuit (ZIC) is located at Jin Ding town in Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province, People’s Republic of China.

Motorsport started in Zhuhai when it hosted a race on its street course in 1993, racing continued until 1996 when the motor racing circuit was constructed with Formula 1 in mind. The first international race held at the circuit was the BPR Global GT Series. The circuit soon became the hotbed of local motorsports with teams from Hong Kong and Macau setting up their bases inside the circuit garages.

The circuit is 4.3km long and has 14 turns. 9 of them are right turns and 5 are left turns. The circuit runs clockwise only. The longest straight is the start/finish straight which is 900 metres (0.56 mi) long. It is an FIA Grade II certified circuit.

Zhuhai International Circuit Co Ltd is also a prominent motorsport event organizer and promoter in China. It has organized and promoted the FIA GT Championship in China and in 2007, it has also signed a contract with China Motorcycle Sports Association to promote the inaugural China Superbike Championship.

International Races

In 1997, ZIC welcomed the new FIA GT Championship. In 1999, the circuit held the FIA GT Championship again, after that the circuit went quite on the international scene for 5 years.

In 2004, the circuit was fully renovated and once again the FIA GT Championship was staged. On 2004-11-14, the two Maserati MC12s of AF Corse scored a 1-2 at the track.

The FIA GT Championship was staged from 2005-10-21 to 2005-10-23 and the GPLK Corvette C5-R won the race. The GruppeM Porsches won GT2. The Hong Kong Le Mans Team and the Malaysian Proton R3 Amprex team also took part.

The FIA GT Championship race has been postponed to 25 March 2007 from October 2006, in order to keep clear of the Shanghai F1 Grand Prix in early October and the Macau Grand Prix in the middle of November. The race was won by All-Inkl.com racing’s Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT, driven by Christophe Bouchut and Stefan Mucke. GT2 class was won by AF Corse’s Ferrari 430, with Dirk Müller and Toni Vilander at the wheel. See also: 2007 FIA GT Zhuhai 2 Hours.

On 1 Aug 2007, A1GP announced that Zhuhai International Circuit will be staging the fifth round of the 2007/08 A1GP series. This took place on 2007-12-16.

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Zhuhai International Circuit official website
wikipedia entry
A1 Grand Prix website

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On the day of confirmation of the Singapore Grand Prix in the 2008 Formula One season, a routemap was published. The pit area of the circuit is located in an empty plot of land off Republic Boulevard and beside the Singapore Flyer. A temporary track leads from the pit area and under the Benjamin Sheares Bridge to Republic Boulevard and turns onto Raffles Boulevard. It then proceeds along Nicoll Highway, Stamford Road and Saint Andrew’s Road around the Padang, past the City Hall.

The track then goes onto the Anderson Bridge, past the Fullerton Hotel and make a tight left turn to Esplanade Drive beside the Merlion Park. It joins Raffles Avenue and cut right after the Esplanade to the front of the The Float at Marina Bay and return to the pit area via another temporary road around the Singapore Flyer. The track layout is unique in that in between turns 18 and 19, the cars race underneath a section of grandstand of the Floating Platform.

In 2008 race, Fernando Alonso won the first ever F1 night race here, with many F1 drivers commenting about the circuit’s bumpy surface.

The track was widely criticised by F1 drivers to be excessively bumpy, resulting in a very unforgiving circuit, especially given the hot and humid conditions of the Singapore climate. World championship leader Lewis Hamilton commented that it was twice as hard to negotiate as the more famous Monaco street circuit, and unexpectedly physical – requiring double the amount of energy over a single lap as compared to the Monaco circuit.

Several drivers, including Sébastien Bourdais and Fernando Alonso, expressed their concern about the high and harsh kerbs at the turn 13 hairpin and the chicane at turn 10 of the street circuit. Ferrari’s Felipe Massa compared the kerbs akin to “little tortises that would wreck the car if you get something wrong”. The drivers were worried that hitting the bumps could cause suspension damage or even damage a tub. They also raised concerns that the bumps would pitch them into the wall on the outside of the corner. Responding to the drivers’ feedback, FIA race director and safety delegate Charlie Whiting ordered the high kerbs at Singapore’s turn 10 hairpin be modified ahead of Friday’s free practice. The kerbs were further reduced in height for Saturday and Sunday’s night race.

The entry of the pit lane, which begins at the penultimate corner of the 23-turn layout, was deemed to be “difficult and incredibly dangerous” by several drivers due to the fast nature of the corners where they were situated. The controversial pit entry at Singapore was then modified ahead of Saturday’s official Qualifying round by extending the pit entry line away from the pits. This change compelled drivers to commit to the pit entry earlier, providing additional warning to those following behind.

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Singapore Grand Prix website
Singapore Street Circuit wikipedia entry
Formula 1 website

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The Valencia Street Circuit is a semi-permanent race circuit in Valencia, Spain which hosts the Formula One Grand Prix of Europe Telefónica. The circuit utilizes the roads around the port city’s port area, and also includes some roads designed exclusively for racing purposes by the German architect Hermann Tilke who also designed the infrastructural buildings for the circuit.

The deal to host the Valencia race was signed on June 01, 2007 and is for seven years. The deal was made between Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone and the Valmor Sport group, which is led by former motorcycle rider Jorge Martinez Aspar and Villarreal football club’s president Fernando Roig. This deal goes back on comments made by Ecclestone previously stating that no European country should hold more than one race each year as Barcelona currently holds the Spanish Grand Prix each year.

Although now confirmed, the deal was rumored to be conditional on People’s Party winning regional elections on 27 May 2007. However, Ecclestone had clarified his comments on May 16, 2007: “I said I wouldn’t formalise a contract until after the elections because I didn’t know who I would be signing it with.” He said his statements were taken out of context. Ecclestone has since been cleared of influencing the election by the Valencian Electoral Commission.

The official track layout was unveiled by Valencia councillor and transport minister, Mario Flores, on 19 July 2007. It will be 5.4 kilometres (3.4 mi) long and incorporate a total of 25 turns – 11 right-handers and 14 left-handers. It is estimated that the track would have a top speed of around 323 kilometres per hour (201 mph) with an estimated lap time of 1 minutes and 37 seconds.

The track was first used in the last weekend of July 2008, as the circuit hosted a round of the Spanish F3 Championship and International GT Open.

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f1-vlc website
Valencia Street Circuit wikipedia entry
Formula 1 website

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