11/11/2005
NEWS STORY
The action begins in earnest today at the Kyalami circuit, near Johannesburg, as this weekend's second annual Altech South African Grand Prix gets underway. Over the next two days, the Minardi F1x2 Team will be providing more than 80 passengers with high-speed rides around the challenging track, which was formerly home to the South African Grand Prix. Come Sunday, though, and the team will focus on final preparations for the twin 10-lap demonstration races that will provide one of the main highlights of the weekend's activities.
As a taster of things to come, the streets of Johannesburg yesterday echoed to the scream of V10 racing engines being worked hard as a pair of Minardi F1x2 cars driven by former Grand Prix winner, Johnny Herbert, and up-and-coming South African driving star, Alan van der Merwe, thrilled lunchtime crowds in the Sandton area of the city. The duo blasted their Minardi two-seaters around a specially constructed street circuit, with the intrepid passengers on this occasion being winners in a competition run by Johannesburg radio station, Jacaranda FM.
Aside from helping to fulfil the Minardi F1x2 Team's longstanding commitment to bring motor racing closer to the fans, the primary purpose of Thursday's programme was to raise public awareness of the Altech South African Grand Prix, the proceeds of which will once again benefit the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and Unite Against Hunger charities.
Aside from Herbert and van der Merwe, the international driver line-up this year consists of Marc Surer, Gianni Morbidelli, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Tarso Marques, Zsolt Baumgartner, Bas Leinders, Patrick Friesacher, Matteo Bobbi and David Saelens. The F1x2 racers and their passengers will share the bill with the inaugural Grand Prix Masters event, the combination ensuring a thrilling weekend of motor sport for the sell-out crowd expected to pack the track.