Zhuhai International Circuit
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Zhuhai International Circuit (ZIC) is located at Jin Ding town in Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China.
The motor racing circuit was constructed in 1996 with Formula 1 in mind. The first international race held at the circuit was the BPR Global GT Endurance Series. The circuit soon became the hotbed of local motorsports with teams from Hong Kong and Macau setting up their bases inside the circuit garages.
Track Layout
The circuit is 4.3km long and has 14 turns. 9 of them are right turns and 5 are left turns. The longest straight is the start/finish straight which is 900m long.
The fastest qualifying lap ever at the circuit was set by an Aston Martin DBR9 of Cirtek Motorsport on 2005-10-22. Driven by Christophe Bouchut, it managed a lap of 1:30.661, equalling an average speed of 170.74 km/h.
International Races
In 1997, ZIC welcomed the new FIA GT Championship. In 1999, the circuit held the FIA GT Championship again, after that the circuit went quite on the international scene for 5 years.
In 2004, the circuit was fully renovated and once again the FIA GT Championship was staged. On 2004-11-14, the two Maserati MC12s of AF Corse scored a 1-2 at the track.
The FIA GT Championship was staged from 2005-10-21 to 2005-10-23 and the GPLK Corvette C5-R won the race. The GruppeM Porsches won GT2. The Hong Kong Le Mans Team and the Malaysian Proton R3 Amprex team also took part.
The FIA GT Championship race has been postponed to 25 March 2007 from October 2006, in order to keep clear of the Shanghai F1 Grand Prix in early October and the Macau Grand Prix in the middle of November.
The Champ Car World Series is scheduled to race at the circuit for the very first time on 20 May 2007. [1]
Asian Races
Asian Festival of Speed [www.afos.com] (AFOS) will be held at the circuit from 2006-10-20 to 2006-10-22.
AFOS has been held at the circuit many times since its inception in 1994.
HTCC and MTCC
The Hong Kong Touring Car Championship and the Macau Touring Car Championship both run the majority of their races at ZIC since they begun.
Formula 1 ambitions
ZIC was included in the provisional 1999 F1 calendar. But the circuit subsequently lost its place in the calendar due to logistical problems.
Track Rentals
Since 2005, the circuit has become a hive of track activities, with a large number of auto-related launches and events held at the circuit, as the battle for car sales in China heat up. Auto dealers and manufacturers try to lure more customers by allowing them to drive freely on the track and pampering them off it.
Kart Circuit
A Kart circuit was also added to the facility in 2004.