Asian Motor Sports

Singapore has revved up its motor racing ambitions by unveiling its inaugural team for the A1 Grand Prix series and daring to dream of a Formula One street circuit in the city state.

Sports minister Vivian Balakrishnan on Tuesday launched the A1 Team Singapore car to compete in the second ‘World Cup of Motorsport’ and said it was a step forward for motor sports on the island.

“First, it will put the Singapore flag on the Singapore motor scene. Second, it will also give us greater momentum, as we mull the possibilities of whether we can come back to having a race down here,” Balakrishnan said.

The A1 series features cars less sophisticated than in Formula One and they are painted in national colours.

Each country — 27 have signed up for the 2006-07 season so far — has one car on the starting grid and drivers must be citizens of the nation they represent with points awarded to countries and not individuals.

France were the inaugural season champions.

The A1 season features 13 races, beginning in the Netherlands at Zandvoort and culminating in Britain’s Brands Hatch.

Singapore unveiled Denis Lian and Hafiz Koh as their drivers.

Balakrishnan said that if either Formula 1 or the A1 Grand Prix series made a feasible offer, motor racing could return to the island in the near future.

“Yes we are looking at the possibilities of Formula 1 seriously,” he told Today newspaper.

“Formal negotiations have not started. But right now, we are all slowly making our way to the start line. But there are multiple factors involved and there are multiple parties. “So I don’t want to raise hopes and make commitments that we can’t fulfil.”

The last time a motor race was held on the island was in 1973 in the old Singapore Grand Prix F2 series. It was scrapped due to an unsafe circuit.

If Singapore were to stage a race again, Balakrishnan said he would prefer a street circuit.

“It (would) give us a chance to show off our beautiful city and our beautiful roads,” he said. “It will have enormous advertisement value for the city as well as for the race. It will also make us unique in this part of the world.” (Source: xtra MSN)