City Challenge Baku postponed by three weeks

Published on 05 September 2012 by Niels Hendrix

In good co-operation with local authorities, management and staff of the City Challenge GmbH have decided to postpone the City Challenge Baku event with an invitation race for GT3 cars on a street circuit in the capital of Azerbaijan by three weeks. The new date for the event is Friday October 26th till Sunday October 28th.

"There are some other major events going on in Baku at the weekend that we had planned originally for the City Challenge Baku. It has become more and more clear to us that this could cause an unpleasant situation for teams, spectators and media coming over to participate in, to watch or to report on our event. In order not to interfere with any other activities in Baku, we have decided to postpone the City Challenge Baku by three weeks," says Hartmut Beyer, CEO of City Challenge GmbH, who is currently in Baku. "Postponing the event also allows more race teams to take part, because at the end of October, most GT series have concluded their season, which makes it easier for teams to come over to race in Baku."

Following the announcement of the inaugural City Challenge Baku event at the end of July, a lot of very positive feedback was received from teams and drivers. "People are really enthusiastic about the event and the concept," says Beyer. "A race on a street circuit is always something very special, but it also comes with particular challenges for the organisation. When you organise an event at a permanent circuit, you just unlock the gates and you can race. When you want to have a race on a street circuit, you have to install everything yourself: pit box facilities, Armco barriers, concrete walls, grandstands, office space, a media centre... And you have to deal with numerous authorities and officials."

In the preparation process, it became clear that staging the City Challenge Baku event on the originally proposed date would create too many logistical problems. "As a result, we have made the decision to postpone it by three weeks. Changing the date at such a late stage wasn't an easy decision, but I am sure that this is the best solution for everyone involved," Beyer explains. "I am very grateful for all the support we get from all the local and national authorities in Baku and Azerbaijan and from the motorsport world with teams, drivers and media. I am convinced that our City Challenge Baku from October 26th till 28th will be a tremendous success!"

Niels Hendrix