2009 CLASS 1 WORLD POWERBOAT CHAMPIONSHIP
Qatar Marine Festival Grand Prix, round 1 – April 23rd-25th, 2009
For immediate release
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
QMSF OFFICIALS FINALISE VENUE FOR
OPENING CLASS 1 RACE IN DOHA BAY
·QMSF’s Mona Nasser oversees completion of Class 1 race village
·Teams make final preparations for Thursday’s first practice session
·New television crew prepares for first Class 1 challenge of 2009
DOHA (Qatar): Staff at the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF) in Doha have been finalising arrangements and infrastructure for this weekend’s Qatar Marine Festival Grand Prix, the opening round of the 2009 Class 1 World Powerboat Championship.
The race headquarters is centred on the Doha Corniche, near the landmark Sheraton Hotel, and members of the QMSF have been ensuring that communications’ links, catering facilities and general equipment are all in place to enable the world’s media to use the facility for the distribution of information and television images about the race on Saturday afternoon.
Race boats, teams and mechanics are now in place in the dry pit area next to the officials’ and media offices and the countdown has begun in earnest to the start of the first official practice session of the new season at noon (12.00hrs) on Thursday.
Mona Nasser heads a team of 15 administration and support staff from the QMSF and has the responsibility of ensuring that the race venue is ready for Thursday morning and fully complies with the requirements of a Class 1 World Powerboat Championship race. The QMSF is run under the presidency of His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani, who will race in the Skema V12-engined Qatar 96 this weekend.
"Since the 19th (April) we have been building the large tent and grandstand for the spectators," said Mona Nasser. "On Wednesday afternoon we completed the podium, stand and installed the sound system for race weekend. The plan was to have everything finished on Wednesday so that we were ready for the start of race administration and documentation on Thursday morning."
The portakabins – which house the media, television staff and race officials – were delivered on April 19th and have been fitted with high-tech equipment over the last three days, with the world’s media able to access the internet using password-encrypted wireless networks. There will also be a facility to distribute video footage on each of the three days of the race meeting to specific television networks.
"The last major job on Wednesday afternoon was to finish the VIP tent, erect a couple of fences and make sure that the areas for spectators were ready," added Mona Nasser. "This year there is free access to many areas for the general public. We wanted them to be able to see Class 1 racing close up and personal."
Class 1 World Powerboat Championship organisers have recruited a new television company to produce the high-speed footage that will grace television screens around the world. Class 1 Television is relishing the new challenge and will use six cameras and 30 mini-cams to grab the action over the three days of racing in Doha Bay.
"We will have six cameras out on the course and three mini-cams in each race boat," enthused Andrea Dini, Class 1 Television’s Executive Producer. "We will also be installing a giant television screen to beam the footage to the spectators in the main grandstand."
His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani and Abdullah Al-Sulaiti of the Qatar Team will get their 2009 Class 1 racing campaign off to a crucial start with the first two-hour official practice session on the race course in Doha Bay on Thursday morning. They will team up with Steve Curtis MBE and Matteo Nicolini in Qatar 96 and Qatar 95, respectively.
Timetable of events for 2009 Qatar Marine Festival Grand Prix
Thursday, April 23rd – Doha Bay
09.00 hrs – 12.00 hrs Administration and technical scrutineering
12.00 hrs – 14.00hrs 1st official practice on race course
18.00 hrs Drivers’ briefing – Sheraton Hotel
Ends
For further information:
Neil Perkins, NDP Publicity Services, Mobile: + 44 7831 123153, E-mail: ndppublicity@compuserve.com. www.ndp-publicity.com (press releases).