Valencia Hails The 2010 European Grand Prix
After the adventurous week in Canada, the cars head towards Spain now. Spain is ready to embrace the festivities and jubilation's of the upcoming Grand Prix. The entire region, famous for its rich culture, extravagant architecture, the flamenco dance and singing, the delicious sea food and drinks and their love for sports, waits for the race with anticipation. The most populous and the third largest city in Spain, Valencia, hail the upcoming F1 Grand Prix.
The Valencia Street Circuit is a mix circuit, with patches of wide roads and narrow streets, and has been signed for seven years to host the Formula One European Grand Prix. The Formula One president Bernie Ecclestone and the Valmor Sport group signed the deal for the first Valencia race on June 1, 2007.
The first race held on the circuit was over the weekend of 23rd and 24th of August 2008, where Felipe Massa marked the first victory of this track, after starting from pole position. The entire circuit is not purpose built rather it utilizes some of the roads around the port area of the city and also engulfs a section of over a hundred and forty metre long swing bridge. However, there are even some roads designed exclusively for racing purposes and these were designed by the German architect Hermann Tilke, who has designed the infrastructural buildings for the circuit as well and is nowadays designing the S. Korean Circuit.
Mario Flores, Valencia’s councilor and transport minister gave the official track layout on 19 July 2007. The track had its inaugural race in the last weekend of July 2008, with hosting a round of the Spanish F3 Championship and later, the International GT Open. The first European Grand Prix on the circuit took place on August 24, 2008.
The total length of the track is 5.419 kilometres, with a total of twenty five turns that makes the track exciting and thrilling with its eleven right-hander and fourteen left-hander turns. As per an estimate the top speed at the track is around three hundred and twenty three kilometers per hour and a lap record of 1:38.683, which was made by Timo Glock, during the 2009 European Grand Prix.
On August 24, 2008 the 2008 European Grand Prix was hosted by Valencia, which was the twelfth race of the 2008 Formula One season. The race was divided in fifty seven laps, and after the exhilarating race Felipe Massa for Ferrari stood at the top of the podium, after starting from the pole position. The McLaren driver, who is currently leading the points’ tally, Lewis Hamilton finished at second place, with Robert Kubica of the BMW Sauber team, ending third.
Massa, though was reprimanded during the race by the stewards and also was fined €10,000 as he was about to collide with Adrian Sutil's car in the pits, however, the Brazilian kept his grip tight at the victory.
The event marked Massa’s 100th entry and Bridgestone's 200th in a racing event. Massa till date stands as the only driver to have won his 100th race.
Last year, the European Grand Prix was held on 23rd of August which was the eleventh race of the 2009 Formula One season. The race, covered over fifty seven laps and was won by Rubens Barrichello for the Brawn team, whereas, the pole was taken by Lewis Hamilton of McLaren. Hamilton stood second, while the third place was occupied by Kimi Räikkönen in his Ferrari car. The most notable thing in the entire race was that there was not even one single track overtaking move, which happened for the first time since the 2005’s controversial United States Grand Prix.
Now, as the 2010 F1 caravan is ready to move to Spain for its next Grand Prix, the race lovers are looking forward to have a lot of adventure and excitement at the ports of Valencia.
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