We are trying to 'build a motorsport culture'

The new FIA GT1 World Championship will roll with the season-opener to be held at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi on April 16 and 17. The 10-round championship will span four continents and will race at some of the famed circuits like Silverstone, Spa-Francorchamps, the Nurburgring, Paul Ricard and Interlagos.

The Yas Marina Circuit hosted the Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the GP2 Asia Series, the Australia V8 Supercars Championship at the Yas Drag Racing Festival.

“It a totally new series. It is a great fit to our strategy, for our motorsport culture in the UAE and positioning Abu Dhabi to the world,” Cregan said on Sunday.

“We are trying to build a motorsport culture here. We want to appeal to different segments of the community and that’s why we opted for this as part of our strategy. We are honoured that we will be the first round of the championship. We want to make this a venue which has a lot of entertainment as well for the family. It will take time but we are doing that and it will become successful,” said Cregan.

Fans in the UAE will get to have a peek at six of the top sportscars burn some rubber at the impressive Yas Marina Circuit. The Aston Martin DB9, the Corvette Z06, the Lamborghini Murcielago R-SV, the Ford GT, the Maserati MC12 and the Nissan GT-R.

“This breaks new ground. It is a new series and expect some close racing. The Nissan GT-R, Aston Martin, Corvette, Ford GT, Lamborghini and the Maserati—these are some of the historic brands. This is probably a more relevant series in the UAE because you see these cars on the roads everyday,” he said.

About the format of the championship, Cregan said: “There will be 12 cars with two cars per team. Each car will have two drivers which is a total of 48 drivers. There will be two races—the Qualifying Race which is on Saturday and the Championship Race on Sunday.

“Both races are of 60 minutes duration with mandatory pit stops to change tyres and the drivers. The cars will also have added weight. They have tried it in other series and that will spice things up and make it exciting. This new series will have private teams and not manufacturers which will make it quite interesting. This will build on the success of that.”

james@khaleejtimes.com