Despite the disruption caused the volcanic ash cloud over Europe the second round of the FIA GT1 World Championship will go ahead, as planned, at Silverstone on April 30-May 2.
The event Рwhich will christen the Northamptonshire circuit's new arena layout Рhad been in doubt when the ash cloud, from the Eyjafjallaj̦kull volcano, grounded the flights to most of Europe.
However, tireless work by the championship promoters the SRO and the re-opening of airspace have made it possible for the series to meet its date at Silverstone. The cars were flown back on pair of cargo planes to Luxembourg, the second arriving yesterday, while two aircraft have been chartered to fly the teams and organisers back to Austria.
“This situation has been extremely difficult but we have managed to pull all the different elements together to get the cars and teams to where they need to be so our next event at Silverstone can go ahead,” said Patricia Kiefer, Chief Operating Officer for SRO. “The cars are now back in Europe and the teams will arrive tomorrow; they will be able to pick up their cars and equipment before the weekend.”
“The FIA GT1 World Championship races at Silverstone on 1/2 May will now be able to go ahead barring any further problems caused by mother nature.”
The Silverstone weekend, which includes the historic RAC Tourist Trophy for the GT1 teams, will also see the opening round of this year's FIA GT3 European Championship and GT4 European Cup as well as the second round of the Cooper Tires British F3 International Series.
Photo Credit: gt1world.com
