Voices.sg

Despite having been scorned by the Ferrari boss and other critics for being a “circus” track, the Singapore F1 Marina Bay circuit has been named the Motor Sport Facility of the Year by the Professional Motor Sport World at the annual awards ceremony on Nov. 11 in Cologne, Germany.

The first-ever floodlit night race venue in Formula One history was commended both for the revolutionary track lighting and the spectacular way in which it wove the track through the heart of the city. Other shortlisted candidates for the 2008 Motor Sport Facility of the Year included the European Grand Prix venue at Valencia in Spain, the new Toyota Racing Development chassis engineering building in Cologne and a new start-of-the-art motor racing facility at Sturup, near Malmo in Sweden.

“We are delighted that the efforts of the entire team and the invaluable contribution from all our fantastic partners have been recognised by this award” said Jonathan Hallett, Director of Media and Communications for Singapore GP Pte Ltd. “We have received a great many compliments from around the world since the running of the race in September, but this is an award given by our peers, the professionals who work in motor sport. It therefore is especially gratifying to receive this award.”

However, it is unlikely that critics will be rushing to congratulate Singapore on its win.

“When we race on tracks which should be used for the circus, anything can happen including the spectacle of the safety car,” Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo had said immediately after the race in Singapore, which saw the safety car taking centrestage on more than a few occasions. “All this is humiliating for F1 and it is an aspect I want to talk about with the other teams.”

The Professional Motor Sport World Awards, which are in their third year of recognising international motor sports endeavours, were selected by a distinguished judging panel from all areas of the sport. Other awards given out at the gala Award show in Cologne included Safety Innovation of the Year (awarded to the FIA Foundation for their work in improving safety in the World Rally Championship), Testing Technology of the Year, Vehicle Development of the Year, Design Engineer of the Year and Team Principal of the Year (awarded to Franz Tost of Scuderia Toro Rosso).

The inaugural 2008 FORMULA 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix took place on 28 September 2008 on a street circuit of public roads around the Marina Bay area. The race was the first Formula One to be held at night, and the first Formula One street race in Asia.

Over 100,000 spectators, a sell-out, capacity crowd, watched the Singapore Grand Prix trackside. Over 30 million TV viewers in the five main European markets of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, are estimated to have watched the live coverage of the race.