The Valencia Formula One Grand Prix Urban Circuit is almost ready for the big weekend 23 August 2008. The weekend of the 26-27 July saw its first official use as the venue for the International GT Open and the 4th round of the Fiat Formula Three Championship. All as a dress rehearsal for the main event.

Paul Beamish Knight was there to cast a critical eye on the track and the proceedings

By the way, if you are coming to Valencia for Formula One, most of the Hotels are already full all over the city but there are b+bs and flats to be had, contact us now - whatever you need, we can probably help! We also have access to some stand tickets fi@thisisvalencia.com

FROM AC32 TO F1

After the grace and the comparative tranquillity of America’s Cup sailing, the port area of Valencia has been partially transformed to accommodate the arrival of Formula 1 racing for next month and the following 6 years. This also marks the start of fantastic regeneration plans for the whole port area.

The new Valencia Street Circuit track was used for the first time ever on Saturday July 27th and Sunday 28th with an International GT Open event together with 2 races of the 4th round of the Spanish Formula 3 Fiat championship. Free practice began at 6pm on Friday after circuit workers had worked all day in temperatures of over 35 degrees finalising the track set up which has used 2900 concrete walls (totalling 11500 metres), 1400 metres of kerbs and 54000 protection tyres. After the session the general consensus amongst drivers, Team leaders and the media was that the track is very quick, wide, quite technical to race and has lots of overtaking points including the newly constructed (and very expensive bridge) that joins the harbour to the port.

The weekend as well as being exciting for the fans was also an ideal trial run for next month’s Formula 1 event when the city, the organisers and the police will have to deal with up to 100,000 fans a day and the organisational problems that they will bring.

The stands are not covered (at the time of writing) so heat will be a problem especially with August temperatures normally in the mid 30s, therefore anyone fortunate enough to have a ticket would be advised to carry plenty of water and an umbrella for shade!

The track itself was superb even though there was a lot concrete dust in the pit lane and one side of the home straight is still only of earth construction. The pit lane has a short run in to the garages which have been converted from the old custom sheds. This short run in should make the F1 racing pit stops exciting and possibly crucial to the outcome of the race.

Tim has asked for a short article on the track and the racing so rather than bore readers with lots of stats and info overkill I have listed the results below from an interesting and exciting couple of days. The weekend was a resounding success and demonstrates both that Valencia can compete with other major global sporting events and that the urban circuit has passed it’s first test on the world stage.

GTS Pro-Am
Winner: Mike Conway and Ho-Pin Tung (first Chinese driver to win a major GT race)
Runner Up: Loris and Ronnie Kessel (father and son team)

GTA Pro-Am
Winner: Marcel Fassler and Henri Moser
Runner Up: Marco Frezza and Ferdinando Monfardini

GTS Open
Winner: Jose Luis Pamplo and Miquel Julia (youngest driver pair in the series and also both local lads from Valencia and Mallorca)
Runner Up: Pastor Maldonado and Jerome D’Ambrosio

GTA Open
Winner: Richard Lietz and Gianluca Roda
Runner Up: Giacomo Ricci and Matteo Bobbi

Fiat F3
Race 1
Winner: Jaime Alguersuari (5th in championship)
Runner Up: Natacha Gachgnang (championship leader)

Race 2
Winner: German Sanchez Flor (4th in championship)
Runner Up: Nelson Panciatici (2nd in championship)

article and photos ©2008Paul Beamish-Knight and thisisvalencia.com

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