Speedcar Series prepares for Qatar night race

Doha: Speedcar Series will be at Losail International Circuit for its first night race from today until Saturday. Running its third round of the season, this will also be the first time that Speedcar Series has raced in Qatar.

A preview press conference was held this afternoon chaired by Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) President Nasser Bin Khalifa Al Attiyah, Speedcar Series Operations Director Claudio Berro, Speedcar Series drivers Jean Alesi and Gianni Morbidelli as well as representatives from GP2 Asia Series.

Nasser Bin Khalifa Al Attiyah welcomed the organisation and participants of the Grand Racing Qatar event saying, "Our strategy has to always bring a top quality race to the circuit. We have been approached by several organisations to run races here. After long discussions leading up to this weekend, we are indeed lucky and proud to have two good Series racing this weekend as well as some famous drivers like Jean Alesi who I am a great fan of."

The weather conditions turned bad this afternoon in Doha with a sand storm and strong winds reducing visibility.

Gianni Morbidelli commented, "I hope the sand storm clears up by tomorrow when we go out. It's a new circuit and we're racing at night, the sand could make the track very slippery but we will all have the same conditions out there of course."

Schedule

The following is in local time:
Race Day 1 - Thursday, February 12, 2009 19:00 -20:00 Practice Session
Race Day 2 - Friday, February 13, 2009 17:45 - 18:15 Qualifying 21:40 - 22:20 Race 1 (40 minutes)
Race Day 3 - Saturday, February 14, 2009 18:00 - 18:15 Warm up 21:00 - 21:40 Race 2 (40 minutes)