sample="supplemental" bates="2072556372" isource="pm" decade="1990" class="ue" date="19961127" Marlboro China Zhuhai International Race '96... Press Release http://www.macaubiz.net/race96/press2.htm Marlboro China Zhuhai '96 International Race BACKGROUND STATEMENT PRESS RELEASES FACT SHEET CIRCUIT MAP PROVISIONAL RACE PROGRAM PROVISIONAL ENTRY LIST SUPERCHARGED SINGLE SEATERS Single seater racing made its China debut in 1994 when the FA2000 machines of the Formula Asia Series stormed around the Zhuhai street circuit to the delight and amazement of thousands of spectators. The following year, the ELF Formula Campus Challenge saw a host of Formula One, Formula 3000 and Formula 3 drivers compete against up-and-coming young talent from Europe and Asia in a similarly dazzling performance. In 1996 race organizers have gone one step further and both formulae will line up on the grid ready for a high-speed, high-tech battle of skill and nerves. For the second consecutive year, Elf is organising a Formula Campus Challenge Race in Zhuhai. Sponsors of the French Formula Campus Cup since its inception in 1993, Elf will bring 18, 1996-model Formula Campus cars to China for the event. As was the case in 1995, the top Elf sponsored drivers from Formula one, Formula 3000 and Formula 3, and the 1996 Formula Renault and Formula Campus Championships, will be participating in the race. A team of over 40 mechanics, administrative and logistics personnel, press agents and management staff from Elf and La Filiere, Elf's driver and mechanic's development program, will be present at the race. This year's Elf Formula Campus Challenge Race will be a truly international affair. Two top Italian drivers from the newly organised 1996 Italian Formula Campus Championship will be joining their counterparts from La Filiere in France. Taiwan's Formula Campus Championship will be sending its best drivers to compete along with drivers from China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Indonesia. The Formula Campus concept of racing is ideally suited to the development of intercontinental race events. Its unique organisational concept makes Formula Campus championships the most efficient way of selecting the best young drivers for promotion to higher categories of racing around the world. The concept is based on the idea of a single owner for the entire fleet of cars participating in a national championship. All the drivers have identical cars, with access to identical mechanical maintenance - all at an identical price. This means that drivers from national championships in one country can fly anywhere in Europe or Asia and feel right at home in the host country's Formula Campus - the cars and the race organisation being the same in every country. 1995 marked the inauguration of Nogatec International's Asian Formula Campus Project. Together with Elf and Fior Concept, designers and builders of the Formula Campus, Nogatec International developed a project dedicated to the promotion of high quality junior single seater racing in the Asian region. Next year will see new Formula Campus championships at the Zhuhai International Circuit and the Shah Alam Circuit in Malaysia, in addition to the championships already being run in France, Italy and Taiwan. The Formula Asia series began in 1994 and was established to assist young Asian drivers make the transition from karting, which has been popular in Asia for some time, to European formulae such as Formula Ford and Formula Renault - and eventually, it is hoped, all the way to Formula One! The series is run throughout the year, with rounds in India, Indonesia, Malaysia and China. Formula Asia attracts not only drivers from the Asian region, but also more experienced European competitors. Teh fact that the competition is so close, and the current series leader is India's Narain Karthikeyan, is testament to the level of 1 of 2 SEARCH****EXCITE 11/27/96 11:45:34