Han Ximin
THE F1 Powerboat World Championship will have its Shenzhen Grand Prix at Shenzhen Bay Inner Lake in Nanshan District on Oct. 17-18.
Shenzhen is the second leg of the championship’s China Grand Prix. The first leg will be held in Liuzhou, Guangxi, on Oct. 6-7.
A total of 20 drivers representing countries including China, the United States, Russia, France, Italy and Australia will compete at this year’s grand prix.
“The China team’s Swedish driver Pierre Lundin has so far earned 14 points and is listed No. 7 on the table. We will try to enter fifth in the Shenzhen competition,” Eric Chan, manager of the TRIC China Team, said at a news conference yesterday.
The competition venue in Nanshan can hold 40,000 visitors with 5,000 parking places.
The powerboat race, a rehearsal for the coming 2011 Summer Universiade, is a good chance for the city to increase its global presence and demonstrate its capacity to stage world sports events, said Huang Guoqiang, vice secretary general of the Shenzhen Municipal Government.
It will be the third year the event has been held in the city. Shenzhen Bay Inner Lake has been chosen for the F1 Powerboat World Championship for the years 2008 to 2017. Union Internationale Motonautique has decided to set up its Asian headquarters in the city to promote the event.
First held in 1981, the F1 Powerboat World Championship is similar to F1 motor racing and similar rules apply.