Situated on the Atlantic coast of Portugal near the picturesque town of Estoril, about a 25 minute drive north west of Portugal's capital city Lisboa, the Estoril circuit will host the 3rd round of the inaugural A1GP series, The World Cup of Motorsport, on 21st, 22nd & 23rd September 2005. Built in 1972 by Fernanda Pires da Silva the circuit was used mainly for European F2 races in the seventies and after major redevelopment in the early eighties it staged its first Formula 1 Grand Prix in 1984, with races every year until 1996 when Jacques Villeneuve won the race. It was famously the venue for Ayrton Senna's maiden victory in torrential rainfall in 1985 driving a John Player Special Lotus Renault.

One of the trickiest tracks on the A1GP calendar, Estoril combines long, constant radius corners with heavy braking zones, bumpy straights and a difficult chicane which was added to the back section in 1994. Its geographical position means that weather can be unpredictable, although it's generally warm, dry nature makes it a good choice for pre-season and winter testing sessions. The weather forecast for the race weekend is mixed, with rain expected on Friday morning and Saturday all day, with race day on Sunday expected to be dry. The temperatures expected are between 14°C and 22°C for the entire race weekend.

A1 Team India is looking forward to the weekend. The engineers and mechanics have got to grips with the nuances of the car and are quietly confident that the team will be competitive. As some of the teams spare cars (including A1 Team India's) have now been delivered, the organizers have added two additional 'shakedown' sessions on Friday morning (09:30 to 10:10 and 10:50 to 11:30) to the schedule. Although not many laps will be driven during these shakedown sessions, it will give all the teams who have been given delivery of the 2nd car to shake the car down and remove all the bugs that come with a new car. In all 10 teams have got the 2nd car. There will be 2 additional 40 minute sessions for the 2nd car shakedown and each team will be allowed only one set of old tyres for both these sessions.

This will be followed by the regular 3 Official practice sessions, with 2 of them being on the Friday and one of them being on Saturday. A1 Team India have decided to field the youngest driver of the championship, Armaan Ebrahim for the 3rd round of the inaugural A1GP Championship in Portugal. At the age of 16 this will be a daunting task for the young man, but at the same time will be the biggest moment of his life when he takes the start of the race.

A1 Team India have made it clear that they would like to give equal opportunities to both the contracted drivers to get more track mileage and racing experience and would like the team to finish races and then move up the ladder as per the long term plan.

A1 Team India Chairman Atul Gupta commented, "I am confident of the team doing well and am happy with the progress being made. It is also going to be a thrilling moment for young Armaan to experience his first race in the A1GP after his fantastic performance in Shanghai in the FBMW race last week."

Armaan is looking forward to the weekend. "This is a fantastic opportunity for me and I am determined and committed to do well for my team, my shareholders and my country. Hopefully with a good showing we will all get more and more determined to continuously finish in the top 10."