BMW Sauber F1 Team
Events News
October 2007

Pit Lane Park heads for Shanghai

The BMW Sauber F1 Team will have the Pit Lane Park in tow for the last time this season as it heads for the Formula One weekend in China. This high-tech event park will be set up at the Shanghai International Circuit complex between 5th and 7th October to welcome all racing fans for a close-up experience of motor sport’s crowning discipline. Local hero Ho-Pin Tung (CHN) will be propelling a BMW Sauber F1 Team race car along a 90-metre section of track. In 2003 Tung was the first Chinese to be given the opportunity of an F1 test as a prize for winning the Formula BMW Asia championship.

The Pit Lane Park will open on Thursday morning at 10:00* hrs, with the first event on the schedule being appearances by the BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers, Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica, accompanied by BMW Motorsport Director, Mario Theissen at 11.00 hrs*.

Twenty-four-year-old Tung is very much looking forward to his opening drive: “I can hardly wait to get back behind the wheel of a Formula One car. When BMW granted me my first test drive four years ago, I had absolutely no doubt that I wanted to get into Formula One. I’m working very hard to achieve that goal, but in the meantime I’m looking forward to giving my compatriots an experience of the BMW Sauber F1 Team car right up close. I’m sure the Pit Lane Park will be a unique event not just for me but for all those who visit it.”

Tung became known in 2003 as the winner of the inaugural Formula BMW Asia season. The reward for his triumph was a Formula One test in Jerez de la Frontera (ESP) on 11th December 2003. Tung successfully represented China in A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, and this season Tung has been competing in the GP2 championship, after winning the German Formula 3 championship title last year. The Chinese GP will mark the second visit to Asia this year for the Pit Lane Park, which has already delighted thousands of visitors at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Robert Kubica at the BMW Sauber F1 Team Pit Lane Park in his home country of Poland

The Pit Lane Park also drew crowds of spectators at the Spanish, British and European Grands Prix, as well in Italy and Poland, the home country of BMW Sauber F1 Team driver Robert Kubica. The BMW Sauber F1 Team Pit Lane Park affords visitors an undiluted taster of Formula One. In the faithfully replicated pit lane there are no fewer than 14 action- packed garages awaiting the fans.

At the heart of the event park is a 90-metre-long section of track that ends in two turning circles. Spectators are seated just a few metres away from the track, enabling them to soak up the heady F1 atmosphere at even closer quarters than in the streets of Monaco.  

For our readers in China - the opening hours for the BMW Sauber F1 Team Pit Lane Park, which will be located behind the main grandstand, are from Friday to Sunday from 9:00 – 18:00* hours.

Please note that the times indicated in the story above refer to the local times in Shanghai.

2007 Chinese Grand Prix Preview