Mexico City
update
Pre-ticket
sales done, tickets on sale to general public
July 30, 2002
The new
garages and pit grandstand construction has begun.
That's Franco Soldati (L) talking with Klaus Porias
Mexico City, - The President of
the Mexican Federation of Motor Sports (FMAD in Spanish),
Franco Soldati, paid a visit to the Autódromo Hermanos
Rodríguez in México City, in order to witness first-hand the
progress of the work being carried out at the track for CART's
Gran Premio Telmex-Gigante, which will take place November
17th, as the final race of the 2002 FedEx Championship Series.
Franco was escorted around the track by Rubén Saldívar,
general director of GRAND -joint venture of CIE and Forsythe
Racing which organizes the Grand Prix- and Klaus Porias from
On Track Operations.
During the visit, Franco was very
pleased with the work already finished. Currently the
second phase of repaving is taking place from the Presidential
turn to the First 'S'. He also took a look at the dismantling
of the so-called 'Popedrome' (where John Paul II gave Mass a
few years ago to over 1 million faithful) and mentioned it was
time to see it taken down because "it obstructs the track and
impedes using the historic 5K Grand Prix circuit layout". He
also made some comments about increasing the usage of the
track by modifying the "flat turn" in the 1 mile oval, and
Saldívar commended the idea since "this will allow us to
increase the possibilities of using the track all year long
without restrictions imposed by other sports' seasonality".
Franco
Soldati (L) and Klaus Porias survey the paving at Turn 1
Rubén concurred with Franco that
support for motor sports "starts with an international series
such as CART and filters down to the national series in an
overall beneficial multiplying effect for motorsports".
He showed Franco the area on the main straight where permanent
grandstands and supporting facilities are being built with
over 25,000 seats, which, they agreed, guarantees a festive
atmosphere for any motor sports event taking place at the
Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
By the way, yesterday was the end
of the Banamex-Visa ticket pre-sale for the Gran Premio
Telmex-Gigante, with over 25,000 three-day tickets sold
already. Tickets are good for practice and qualifying on
Friday 15th, practice, qualifying and races on Saturday 16th,
and races on Sunday, November 17th, including the stellar CART
Mexican Grand Prix in which three Mexican drivers compete -
Michel Jourdain Jr. (Team Rahal), Mario Domínguez (Herdez
Competition) and Adrián Fernández (Fernández Racing).
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Ricardo González
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