Chengdu circuit prepares for A1GP

London, Great Britain --.Work is well underway in preparation for A1GP World Cup of Motorsport's inaugural visit to Chengdu next month, the first major international motorsport event to take place in the Sichuan Province. The series has strong ties with China, having raced there five times in the last three seasons, but this will be a new challenge for the A1GP Powered by Ferrari cars when they take to the track for round two of the championship, 7-9 November 2008.

Earlier this year, an earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale struck Wenchuan County in the south-western Sichuan Province. The rescue and relief efforts have been on-going since the disaster struck.

Chengdu City is the capital of the Sichuan province, while the track, which lies 16 kilometres south west of the city centre, is 3.367 kilometres (2.019 miles) long and features 14 turns running in a clockwise direction.

With an advanced timing and monitoring system and recovery equipment, the professional staff can react quickly to incidents. Local training sessions for officials and volunteers has already begun in preparation for the A1GP races.

Building works are progressing well to be completed in time for the next event on the A1GP calendar and include the addition of new corporate suites and a new Medical Centre being fitted at the track.

Commenting on the progress in Chengdu, CEO Asia Pacific, David Clare, said: "For A1GP it is a great honour to race at the Chengdu International Circuit and particularly being the first ever major international motorsport event in the Sichuan Province. This is the heartland of China and a great transportation hub. We are excited to bring all of our competing countries in their A1GP Powered by Ferrari cars to this great city."

-credit: a1gp