Mario Andretti to inaugurate the Circuit of the Americas – Formula 1 news
Former world champion racing driver, Mario Gabriele Andretti, will be inaugurating the Circuit of the Americas this Sunday ahead of the United States Grand Prix.
The official opening ceremony is being held four weeks before the United States Grand Prix which is scheduled to take place on the said circuit. Andretti along with actor Patrick Dempsey and Lotus’ third driver Jerome D’Ambrosio will be demonstrating the
first run of the circuit.
Andretti is an Italian American and is known as one of the most successful drivers in the history of Formula 1. He is also one of the only two drivers who have been successful in winning races not only in Formula 1 but also in Indy Car, NASCAR and World
Sports car Championship. He is the winner of the 1978 Formula 1 World Championship and is the holder of four Indy Car titles. He has had 109 wins in his career racing over on all the important circuits and no American since Andretti has had the pleasure of
winning the Formula 1 championship.
Since his retirement in 1982, this is the first time Andretti will be driving a well known Formula 1 car. He is scheduled to drive the Lotus R30 which is the car they produced in 2010 under the brand of Renault. The Lotus team uses the particular car for
demonstration runs and is usually driven by drivers Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov.
After Andretti will have driven his opening laps on the circuit, he will be handing the car to actor Dempsey, who is well known to the world for his role of a Doctor in the television show Grey’s Anatomy. Dempsey has been keenly interested in the field of
Motorsports and is also the ambassador of Trina Solar, a partner of Lotus. The actor has also been competing in several races of various kinds. Driver D’Ambrosio will be completing the demonstration.
The United States Grand Prix will be taking place in Austin, Texas. The race will be marking the return of Formula 1 racing in United States after the sport has been out of sights for five years. Since the Grand Prix of America has been rescheduled for 2014,
this is the only race to take place in either 2012 or 2013.
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