BTCC to race at Mondello Park

The World famous British Touring Car Championship is on it's way to Ireland. The popular International series is coming to Mondello Park in Kildare on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th of June for it's first race outside the UK.

After a long wait Irish fans will finally get to see the Touring Car stars in action. The BTCC has a large following in Ireland due to the high TV profile the series enjoys. The popularity of the series looks set to translate into the biggest race day attendance ever seen at the Co. Kildare track and an exciting event is in store in the opinion of Touring Car drivers Yvan Muller and Will Hoy who have already sampled the track. "It is a very exciting and technically demanding circuit" commented Hoy after his recent visit "racing there will be challenging." Preparations for the event are now well underway as the upgrading of the Circuit facilities continues. The latest phase of the development has seen the total re- surfacing of the Paddock area and completion of the new hospitality suites. The completion of the paddock upgrade means the most modern pit facility in the British Isles is now ready to welcome the High Tech machinery of the BTCC.

The BTCC race features two classes, one for slightly modified production based cars and one for the quicker, more high tech and more spectacular Touring Class cars. The two classes race together over two races, a sprint race and a long distance race. Qualifying takes place on Saturday with both races taking place on Sunday. Round 9 of the championship will be the sprint race over 15 Laps of the Mondello Park International circuit. Round 10 will take place later in the day over thirty laps during which the Touring Cars will have to come in for a mandatory pit stop. The entry includes cars from Vauxhall, Peugeot, Alfa Romeo and Lexus in the Touring Car class and Honda, Peugeot, Alfa Romeo, Ford, Renault and Mitsubishi in the Production class. Top International Touring Car drivers such as Steve Soper, Yvan Muller, James Thompson, Jason Plato and James Kaye will all compete for the outright and class wins in the Touring and Production classes.

Timetable, Saturday: 9:15 - Qualifying Formula Europa / Formula Ford; 10:00 - Practice BTC Touring; 11:00 - Practice BTC Production; 12:00 - Practice BTC Touring Lunch Break; 1:45 - Qualifying BTC Production; 2:30 - Qualifying Lotus Sport Elise; 3:15 - Qualifying BTC Touring; 4:00 - Qualifying RT2000; 4:45 - Qualifying Historic Racing Cars; 5:30 - Race Irish Formula Europa / Formula Ford Zetec; Sunday: 10:00 - Practice BTC Touring Free Practice; 10:35 - Race 2 Irish Formula Europa / Formula Ford Zetec 8 Laps; 11:15 - Pits Walkabout and Autograph Session; 12:30 - Race 3 BTCC Sprint race 15 Laps; 13:40 - Race 4 Autobytel Lotus Championship 24 Minutes; 14:25 - Race 5 RT2000 Championship Race 8 Laps; 15:15 - Race 6 BTCC: Feature race 30 Laps; 17:05 - Race 7 Historic Racing Car race 8 Laps; Tickets - Two Day: £30:00 (Limited availability must be booked in Advance) Admission, grandstand seat and paddock transfer for Saturday and Sunday; Saturday - Admission £10:00, Grandstand £5:00, Paddock Transfer £3:00 Sunday - Admission £20:00, Grandstand £5:00, Paddock Transfer £3:00; Accompanied under 16's free of charge on both days.

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