Korean circuit to host big F3 race

Seoul, South Korea – As the Korea International Circuit (KIC) completes final preparations for October’s 2010 FORMULA 1 KOREAN GRAND PRIX, Asia’s newest race track has announced it will also host the international Korea Formula 3 Superprix on November 26-28 this year.   

As a grand finale to the 2010 Formula 3 season, the world’s leading drivers in the category will travel to Korea following the FIA Formula 3 Intercontinental Cup at the Macau Grand Prix.  

Commented Korea Auto Valley Operation (KAVO) Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Yung Cho Chung:

  “It is a great privilege for KIC to host the final international Formula 3 race meeting of the year.

  As the centre for motorsport excellence in South Korea, we will have both the pinnacle of the sport with Formula 1 and the superstars of tomorrow racing at KIC within months of it opening."

  The Superprix was announced at a signing ceremony at KIC yesterday between Yung and Motor Race Consultant’s Barry Bland, organiser of both the Korean event and the Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix.  

The format will include Friday testing, with qualifying on Saturday and a Qualification Race and the Superprix itself the following day.

  The event will run on KIC’s full, 5.615km circuit configuration.  

The International Formula 3 Korean Superprix was the first ever international motorsport meeting held in the country when it made its debut in 1999 at the Changwon street circuit outside Pusan.

  It ran annually for five years until 2003, when none other than Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the last race which was won by American Richard Antinucci with Hitech Racing.  

Said Bland:
  “As the first international race meeting ever held in Korea, the Superprix was the catalyst for the development of the sport here, and culminated in the creation of the KIC and the country’s inclusion in the FIA Formula One World Championship."  

Other notables who competed in Korea were Jenson Button, who finished second to fellow Briton Darren Manning in 1999, Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica, Nelson Piquet Junior, Heikki Kovalainen, Takuma Sato, current FIA World Touring Car drivers Andy Priaulx and Tiago Monteiro, and sportscar star Danny Watts.   

Manning was the only driver to win both the Macau Grand Prix and the Korean season-closer, taking a US$100,000 prize for clinching the double that year.   

The KIC is designed as a dual structure: the 5.615km Formula 1 track, which will include elements of a street circuit and has a 1.2km straight, and a shorter, permanent circuit of 3.045km.

  The track was designed by the world-renowned Hermann Tilke, and incorporates local elements such as the roof of the main grandstand which resembles the eaves of traditional Korean ‘hanok’ houses.

  A total of 130,000 spectators will be accommodated at the circuit, with 16,000 seats in the main grandstand.  

The official KIC website is at www.koreangp.kr and information and photographs about the KIC can also be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/KoreanGP