Football and motorsport fans can now mark their
calendars, Superleague Formula has confirmed its schedule for its
inaugural 2008 six-race season.
Merging the passion of international football with the excitement
of high-tech motorsport, the new championship will visit six major
circuits across Europe, debuting at Donington in the UK on August
30/31.
Five of the six circuits have been confirmed for the new championship
with races at Donington, Nürburgring in Germany; Zolder in
Belgium; Estoril in Portugal and Jerez in Spain.
The fourth round will be staged in Italy at a circuit to be determined.
The schedule for the Barcelona-headquartered championship has been
approved by the Spanish Motorsport Federation for inscription in
the official FIA 2008 calendar This will be finally approved at
the World Motor Sport Council in early December.
| Aug
30/31: |
Donington
|
United
Kingdom |
| Sep
20/21: |
Nürburgring
|
Germany |
| Oct
4/5: |
Zolder
|
Belgium |
| Oct
18/19: |
To
be announced * |
Italy |
| Nov
1/2: |
Estoril
|
Portugal |
| Nov
22/23: |
Jerez
|
Spain |
|
*
location TBA
|
|
SUBJECT
TO FIA CONFIRMATION
|
Each round of the championship will feature two
races with the world’s leading football clubs displaying their
colours on 750 horsepower, V-12 powered single seaters.
Already, nine of the 20 clubs have been confirmed for the Superleague
Formula Championship including AC Milan (Italy), PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands),
FC Porto (Portugal), Olympiacos (Greece), Borussia Dortmund (Germany),
Flamengo (Brazil) RSC Anderlecht (Belgium), FC Basel (Switzerland)
and Galatasaray SK (Turkey).
The line-up represents seven International Cup championships (World
Club Championship), 10 Champion's League titles and four EUFA Cup
crowns.
Negotiations with other clubs from the UK, Spain, France, Germany,
Italy, Sweden, Russia, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, China, Korea and
the US are continuing to complete the grid for the August kick-off.
“We are delighted to confirm our inaugural schedule and thrilled
with the opportunity to race at these high profile venues,”
Superleague Formula President and CEO Alex Andreu said.
“The circuits are excited about our plans for Superleague
Formula. The race weekends will be more than just a race, these
events will focus very heavily on family entertainment.
“While the performance of our cars, matched with these spectacular
circuits will obviously attract our share of motorsport fans, our
goal is to introduce football supporters to this new concept and
provide an outstanding day of family entertainment.
“We aim to provide unprecedented access for fans to meet the
drivers and see the cars and teams up close. Superleague Formula
will have a unique party-like atmosphere where fans will see their
colours doing battle against their traditional rivals in an entirely
new sporting arena.
"This is a huge week in the development of our championship.
We have welcomed Galatasaray SK to the series, announced our calendar
and this weekend we are staging a huge launch in Brazil for Flamengo."
Built by Elan Motorsport Technologies and powered by a purpose-built
Menard Competition Technologies engine, the new Superleague Formula
car is nearing completion and is expected to hit the track for testing
in early 2008.
The championship's first race scheduled for Donington Park adds
another top quality event to the historic Leicestershire venue which
also hosts rounds of the MotoGP World Championship, British Touring
Car Championship and British Superbike Championship.
“Donington Park is delighted to be involved
in such an exciting new initiative and are very proud to be hosting
the opening round of the Superleague Formula championship,”
said Vikki Wellington, Donington Park Marketing and Media Sales
Manager
“Superleague Formula is a new and very unique championship
which should attract a wide variety of new fans to Donington Park.
“The technical spec of the championship should produce an
extremely fast race car which I am sure is going to be very challenging
for the drivers and extremely spectacular for the fans.
“Hearing football chants from the fans is certainly going
to be something that we have never heard before at Donington Park.”
Belgium's Zolder event (round three of the championship) is ideally
located to cater for the fans of a number of existing Superleague
Formula football clubs.
“We are very excited to bring to Circuit Zolder a brand new
event and a new championship,” Circuit Zolder Marketing Manager,
Walter Goossens said.
“Football and motorsport are hugely popular and we believe
the series will be a perfect addition to our calendar.
“Not only will we have a huge number of RSC Anderlecht fans
coming nearby from Brussels, but we also have PSV Eindhoven only
an hour away and Borussia Dortmund only two hours.
“There will be a great collection of fans at our circuit –
many of whom will be introduced to motorsport for the first time.
We believe Superleague Formula is an outstanding concept.”
With the Superleague Formula organisers based in
Barcelona, it is fitting that the final round of the inaugurual
season will take place in Spain.
"From the Circuito de Jerez, we are happy to
be involved in this new project and we wish to the organizers the
best of luck in the future," said Juan Alvarez, Manager Director
of Circuito de Jerez.
"We will be the last round of the season and
we expect that the championship will arrive at Jerez full of excitement
as the drivers battle for the title.
"It isimportant for us to extend our racing calendar of the
year with an international event like this."
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