City Challenge

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City Challenge is an event organisation that holds motorsports, arts and entertainment events in major city centres. It has its headquarters in Berlin, Germany.

Berlin Capital of Germany

Berlin is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3,748,148 (2018) inhabitants make it the second most populous city proper of the European Union after London. The city is one of Germany's 16 federal states. It is surrounded by the state of Brandenburg, and contiguous with its capital, Potsdam. The two cities are at the center of the Berlin-Brandenburg capital region, which is, with about six million inhabitants and an area of more than 30,000 km², Germany's third-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr and Rhine-Main regions.

Germany Federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central and Western Europe, lying between the Baltic and North Seas to the north, and the Alps, Lake Constance and the High Rhine to the south. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, and Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands to the west.

Contents

History

City Challenge CEO Hartmut Beyer started to plan a race circuit downtown Bucharest, Romania, in 2004. After fulfilling the role as organiser and promoter for the FIA GT Championship rounds in Bucharest 2007, 2008 (under the name of Bucharest Ring [1] ) and Budapest, Hungary, in 2009, Mr. Beyer and his team performed negotiations with multiple cities around the world in order to establish its own GT championship that will take place from 2013 onwards. [2]

Bucharest Capital of Romania

Bucharest is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, at 44°25′57″N26°06′14″E, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than 60 km (37.3 mi) north of the Danube River and the Bulgarian border.

FIA GT Championship auto racing championship in Europe

The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout the years has visited other continents including Asia and South America. At the end of 2009, the championship was replaced by the FIA GT1 World Championship, which morphed into the FIA GT Series for 2013.

Bucharest Ring

The Bucharest Ring was a street circuit in the Romanian capital city of Bucharest and was initiated by City Challenge GmbH.

City Challenge Baku

The inaugural Baku City Challenge event was being held in Baku, Azerbaijan, during 26–28 October 2012. The event attracted 42,000 spectators over the weekend, about 150 national and international journalists were reporting about the event and 100 crew members of the TV production provided the footage either live or as highlight in over 120 countries, reaching a total of 650 million households. [3]

Baku Capital city in Azerbaijan

Baku is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located 28 metres (92 ft) below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world and also the largest city in the world located below sea level. Baku lies on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, alongside the Bay of Baku. At the beginning of 2009, Baku's urban population was estimated at just over two million people. Officially, about 25 percent of all inhabitants of the country live in Baku's metropolitan area. Baku is the sole metropolis in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan Country in the South Caucasus

Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west and Iran to the south. The exclave of Nakhchivan is bounded by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, and has an 11 km (6.8 mi) long border with Turkey in the northwest.

On day time, the Historic Grand Prix and the Gymkhana Drift Series acted as support races of the Baku event. The evening show programme included the “CoGo show”, featuring international artists, and on-stage performances by, among others, DJ Pancho and Rafet el Roman.

Gymkhana is a type of motorsport, known as Motorkhana in Australia and New Zealand, and Autotesting in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Similar to autocross, the goal of gymkhana is to achieve the fastest time possible; memorizing the course is a significant part of achieving a fast time. The name is loaned from the equestrian discipline of gymkhana.

A total of 13 teams, 24 cars of the makes BMW, McLaren, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Chevrolet participated during the City Challenge event on the 2,144-metre-long racetrack that was homologated with FIA grade 3. Among the drivers were five times DTM champion Bernd Schneider, former Formula 1 driver and 2008 Le Mans class winner Jos Verstappen, [4] 1997 F1 World Champion and Indy 500 winner Jacques Villeneuve [5] and Mathias Lauda, son of three-time F1 World Champion Niki Lauda.

Jos Verstappen racecar driver

Johannes Franciscus "Jos" Verstappen is a Dutch former racing driver. After his F1 career Jos Verstappen has won races in A1 Grand Prix and Le Mans Series LMP2 races. Prior to his F1 debut in 1994, he was also the German Formula Three champion and Masters of Formula Three winner in 1993. Jos was the most successful Dutch F1 racing driver before he retired and started mentoring his son Max in Formula 1.

Jacques Villeneuve Canadian racecar driver

Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve is a Canadian professional auto racing driver and amateur musician. Villeneuve currently competes in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, driving the #32 Chevrolet Camaro for Go Fas Racing in the Elite 1 class. He is the son of Formula One driver Gilles Villeneuve, and is the namesake of his uncle, who was also a racer. Villeneuve won the 1995 CART Championship, the 1995 Indianapolis 500 and the 1997 Formula One World Championship, making him only the third driver after Mario Andretti and Emerson Fittipaldi to achieve such a feat. As of 2018, no other Canadian has won the Indianapolis 500 or the Formula One Drivers' title.

Mathias Lauda Austrian race car driver

Mathias Lauda is an Austrian race car driver currently racing for Aston Martin Racing as a factory driver in the FIA World Endurance Championship. He is the son of three-time Formula One world champion Niki Lauda and his first wife, Marlene. He has a brother, Lukas, who is currently his manager.

The City Challenge GT main race was won by drivers Frédéric Makowiecki and Stef Dusseldorp, driving the McLaren MP4-12C GT3 for HEXIS Racing. [6] Frank Kechele and Mathias Lauda driving the BMW Z4 GT3 for Vita4One Racing Team were ranked second and the podium was concluded by Yelmer Buurman and Nicolaus Mayr-Melnhof, also driving a BMW Z4 GT3 for Vita4One Racing Team.

Future

City Challenge has the ambition to grow to a stable event calendar that contains a minimum of five events in Europe, Middle East, America and Asia. [7] The calendar is to be announced.

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References

  1. ↑ [ dead link ]
  2. ↑ "Sonstiges: City-Challenge: Neue GT3-Rennserie auf Stadtkursen? - Mehr Motorsport bei". Motorsport-total.com. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  3. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20121028052953/http://www.citychallenge.com/baku/news/bnbroadcasters. Archived from the original on October 28, 2012. Retrieved February 5, 2013.Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ↑ "Jos Verstappen to compete in City Challenge GT Race Baku". automobilsport.com. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  5. ↑ "GT: Jacques Villeneuve to race in Azerbaïjan - Car News". Auto123. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  6. ↑ "SPEED | The Motors On FOX Blog". Auto-racing.speedtv.com. 2014-05-04. Archived from the original on 2012-10-30. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  7. ↑ "Azerbaijan City Challenge street race pushed back three weeks - GT news". Autosport.Com. 2012-09-05. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
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