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The month of March is in the midst of Spring, during this heart-warming season, Zhuhai International Circuit (ZIC) has welcomed in more than 20 Ferraris, Aston-Martins, Lamborghinis, Porsches, Maseratis and Corvettes.
On 23rd March, the sun is shining and the FIA GT Championship China Round is about to begin. Everybody at ZIC is busy, whether they are the teams, the drivers or the circuit staff, everybody is working hard to ensure that the fans will enjoy a great race this weekend.
Teams and drivers in busy preparations
In the pit garage of the Vitaphone Racing Team, the mechanics are busy setting up the race cars. The Maserati MC12 they use is identical to the ones used by Sarafree Playteam. The only difference is their choice of tyres. Vitaphone uses Michelin while Sarafree Playteam uses Pirelli. It appears that the tyre companies will also have a great battle. Over at the Jetalliance pit garage, the team’s Aston Martin DBR9 is also being prepared for best performance. The team’s mechanics were carrying out minute adjustments to improve the cars.
The difference between now and the past is that the fans on the grandstand now can see rows of multi-coloured packing cases. The teams’ equipments such as the refueling rig, air-pump, oil drums and all the spare parts were air-freighted into Zhuhai from Europe. This is another example of how expensive it is to organize this race.
The busy scene and the cars rushing along the track are inseparable. Cars entering the 4 support races: the Pan Delta Touring Car Race, Asia Supercar Challenge, Pan Delta Lotus Challenge and Formula Geely have already begun free practice and qualifying. Their presence added an extra layer of atmosphere to ZIC.
With the loud noise of the engines, those who had come early to find out the latest news were unable to contain their joys. They took their cameras everywhere on the grandstand to capture a shot of their favourite drivers and cars.
Race organization in good order
ZIC’s staff are also very busy. Race promotions, security, VIP room decoration, media centre decoration, everyone is very keen to make sure every detail is attended to. This is no easy task. But according to ZIC staff, operating this world class event is not difficult for ZIC people, every job was carefully planned out as long ago as last year. All the ZIC staff are already well rehearsed with their past experiences.
“The FIA GT Championship is the best stage to watch the world’s top class supercars. The best drivers racing the rarest supercars in the world, on the first ever international standard racing circuit in China. As the first race of 2007, the Zhuhai round of the championship is extremely attractive.” The receptionist said to the arriving media. Zhuhai’s FIA GT race will be broadcast live, as well as in 26 minutes and 52 minutes highlight formats, through cable television channels, satellite television channels etc to countries throughout the world, an estimated over 250 million households will be able to watch the race.
New statistics show that more than 300 media organizations, including China Central Television, are coming to ZIC to report on the event. Outside China, Crash.net, motorsport.com , Autosprint and Autosport are also here to report on the race, making sure that news from the opening race of the 2007 FIA GT Championship will be broadcast to the world at the earliest opportunity.
With so many eyes watching, the qualifying and race tomorrow and the day after will be a fierce and exciting battle among the teams and the drivers.
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