From 24th to 25th August at the Austrian Red Bull Ring there will be held the fifth round of Volkswagen Castrol Cup. All drivers will return to competition after a two-month break. Volkswagen Castrol Cup will arrive at the modern venue in Spielberg. Next season it will host the round of the FIA Formula 1 Championship. There will be 25 drivers from 8 countries at the start line. They will be accompanied by two VIP drivers. One of them is the best Polish speedway rider Tomasz Gollob who is an individual and team World Champion. The second VIP car will be driven by Top Gear journalist, Szczepan Mroczek. Pawel Krezelok and Malgorzata Rdest will make their debut in Volkswagen Castrol Cup.
Scenie and modern venue
The ninth and tenth race of Volkswagen Castrol Cup will be held in Austria at the Red Bull Ring. The track in Spielberg was built in 1969. In 2011 there was a major modification of the circuit. One lap of the track has a length of 4326 m, and the longest straight track counts 525 m. Michael Schumacher (Germany) is a single lap record holder. In 2003 he set a time of 1:08:337 in his F1 Ferrari.
Qualifying for the fifth round of Volkswagen Castrol Cup at the Austrian track will begin on Saturday, August 24th at 17:25. The session will establish the starting order to the first race planned for Sunday, August 25th at 11:30. The second race will start at the same day at 15:45. In both races competitors will tackle 12 laps.
VIP drivers
Apart from the regular Volkswagen Castrol Cup drivers, there will be two VIPs including Tomasz Gollob and Szczepan Mroczek.
The first one is the most successful Polish speedway rider. Coming from Bydgoszcz, the current Unibax Toruń team member is called a professor of speedway. He has to his credit many titles including Individual World Champion (2010), World Team Champion (1996, 2005, 2007, 2009-2011) and Individual Polish Champion. The second VIP is Szczepan Mroczek, a Top Gear magazine journalist.
Push – to – Pass
The Golf’s engine power is 260 bhp. It is increased by additional 50 bhp thanks to Push – to – Pass system. This allows drivers to fight for positions and enhances the excitement. The use of the system depends on the track. The system is enabled for 10 seconds, with the interval of 10 seconds.
New competitors in the pack
After four rounds Mateusz Lisowski (266 points) is a leader of the series. Jakub Litwin is 10 points behind him. In third place with 251 points, there is a Swede Rasmus Marthen. Jan Kisiel aims at returning to top three. He had an unfortunate weekend in Poznan where he lost many points. There will be two new Volkswagen Castrol Cup drivers at Red Bull Ring. The first one is Pawel Krezelok and the second one is a young lady, Malgorzata Rdest.
Comments before Red Bull Ring
Krystian Korzeniowski, 5. place in overall classification:
– Red Bull Ring as any track in Volkswagen Castrol Cup is new to me. During the training I’ll have to concentrate to analyze the circuit well. The difference between me and the Cup leader is just 34 points. Former rounds showed that the positions in qualifications change very quickly. The fight is still on. All the time I try to attract sponsors.
Sebastian Ramirez, 11. place in overall classification:
– The last round in Poznan was not successful for me. I chose the wrong strategy for qualifying, which meant that the two races did not end for me well even though the times showed that I could take the place of the top eight. The Red Bull Ring is an incredible venue where you need to maintain the maximum possible speed. The altitude of the track is interesting, and brings a lot of fun.
Aleksandra Bursiak, 23. place in overall classification:
– I want to emphasize that this is my first season in the world of motorsport. I want to seize the opportunity given by Volkswagen to participate in the prestigious and professional series as Volkswagen Castrol Cup. Particularly I would like to thank the organizers for their help and support and invaluable knowledge. I hope that the next race at Red Bull Ring prove that I’m not there by accident. My attitude to the next round of Volkswagen Castrol Cup is clear, I have to cover as many laps as possible to gain another great experience, which is now most important to me.
Paweł Krężelok, debut in the Cup
– Volkswagen Castrol Cup is a great challenge for me, I am very pleased to take part in this extremely demanding racing series. I’m the youngest competitor in the pack. I will do everything in my power to make a nice surprise. At the same time I participate in KLR where I met this great venue. At the moment I’m on the track, sit in the racing seat and try to use Push – to – Pass system. I would like to thank everyone who helped me make this start. This is what gave me great confidence in myself!
Virtual Volkswagen Castrol Cup
Together with Volkswagen Castrol Cup there is a Virtual Cup competed on Forza Motorsport (Xbox-360) game. So far there have been eight rounds held packed with emotions. The gap between the top places is narrow. All news about virtual cup are available at www.liveleague.pl.