Irish station to cover Team Ireland

TV3 to follow Belmayne A1 Team Ireland's A1GP bid

Dublin, 28th September 2007; Television broadcaster TV3 announced today that it will cover this year's prestigious A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in full as Belmayne A1 Team Ireland bids for title glory against over 21 other nations. Ireland's leading independent commercial television channel, will commence coverage of the 2007/08 A1GP series by showing highlights of Sunday's opening event at Zandvoort, The Netherlands. The remaining rounds of the 11-race A1GP schedule will be broadcast on a live or delayed basis as the Irish team competes for honours at races across Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa and the Americas.

The agreement with TV3 comes as a further boost to A1 Team Ireland only two weeks after the team announced a title sponsorship deal with Belmayne, the landmark residential development on Malahide Road, North Dublin, owned by LM Developments.

TV3 Sales Director Pat Kiely said: We are delighted to add to our sports offering by bringing A1 Grand Prix to TV3. We particularly look forward to following the fortunes of the Belmayne A1 Team Ireland who hopefully will give Irish motorsport fans something to shout about in the season ahead. Aside for our race feature programming, TV3 will be keeping a close eye on progress with regular updates on our nightly sports show Sports Tonight and Ireland's only breakfast show Ireland am"

Mark Kershaw, owner of Belmayne A1 Team Ireland said: "Securing TV3's coverage for our assault on the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport is a significant development for our team and supporters. To have Ireland's leading commercial station following the fortunes of an Irish team capable of winning a major world motorsport event will not only enable us to show fans at home how good the A1GP series is in terms of close, exciting racing, but also introduce the sport to a new audience. This is grand prix-style motor racing at its best, and we are determined to give TV3's viewers something to cheer about this season. We would also like to thank Sky Sports for their support in enabling Team Ireland and TV3 to conclude this agreement."

Team Ireland's bid for the A1GP title will be launched in Zandvoort this weekend by driver Ralph Firman, former Jordan Formula One star and current leader of the prestigious Japanese Super GT where he drives for Honda. Firman showed strongly in pre-season testing where he shared the driving duties with Portadown's Adam Carroll who is currently competing in Formula One's 'GP2' feeder series. Further announcements concerning driver-selection for round two of the A1GP series and beyond will be made next week.

The first race is on Sunday 30th September 2007. TV3 will be showing delayed highlights. The second race is live on Sunday 14th October from Brno, Czech Republic.

-credit: team ireland