Portimão thread

[jackschmidt]

I missed the race. So, no comment as of now. I want to catch it whereever I can.

[Toads]

Originally Posted by strider

I thought it was very unreasonable.

It doesn't matter weather someone is on the pace or not. As with many other series. If you overtake someone on the restart before you cross the start/finish line, the driver/rider is going to get pinged for it. No matter what excuse you come up with, It's up to the driver/rider to refrain from making a move before they pass the start/finish line. Nothing unreasonable about it..

With that said. This Portimão round was another enjoyable one. Plenty of action like the Kyalami round.

[Kiwi3]

I guess you could argue that he should not have been following the car in front so close, but having not had a clear view on it who knows. A case of 'rules is rules' I guess.

The commentators spoke at length about the first penalty being for a jumped start, in fact it was for a team member working on the car too late, which was shown at the time.

Great three way scrap for the title now with Portugal also right in it, although I would like to see them win a couple more races if they end up winning the championship.

[socram]

Drat, drat, drat. Forgot to set the recorder so missed the lot! The only problem here is that it is on free TV (which is good), but unless I am very much mistaken, unlike Sky, isn't repeated.

Sounds like a total disaster for team NZ.

[Kiwi3]

Originally Posted by socram

Drat, drat, drat. Forgot to set the recorder so missed the lot! The only problem here is that it is on free TV (which is good), but unless I am very much mistaken, unlike Sky, isn't repeated.

Sounds like a total disaster for team NZ.

If you download TVU you can catch a replay on ESPN Star Sports, check the schedule on espnstar.com. From memory there is a replay at 12pm HK time tomorrow which would be 5pm NZ time. Don't trust my memory though...

Otherwise I can send you a copy if you reimburse the postage.

It's turning into a shocker of a season for NZ. Bamber was however very quick again, he should be good next season if he stops getting involved in incidents.

[socram]

Thanks for the kind offer kiwi3. I'll pass this time. I suppose the NZ team did really well in the first three seasons, so I suppose the law of averages says we were due a shocker at some stage.

[gomick]

Was there a poor crowd there?

Good drive by Doornbos after his eventful indycar race last weekend...

[Kiwi3]

Hard to say regarding the crowd, as most of them seemed to be in the upper level of the grandstand which was in shade and not always easy to see on TV. But certainly a lot of empty grandstands around the track.

[MagnetON]

Originally Posted by Kiwi3

Hard to say regarding the crowd, as most of them seemed to be in the upper level of the grandstand which was in shade and not always easy to see on TV. But certainly a lot of empty grandstands around the track.

Our guess was that it was quiet due to it being Easter Sunday and as for the other grandstands, it looks like there are a LOT of track layout variations so it's possible that certain grandstands are better for certain configurations and that they only had some main ones open for that layout. Looks like a wonderful circuit though, have to love some of those dropping corners!!!

[kerrmanningjarv]

37500 there in the weekend according to Team POR's official race report. So probably 25-30,000 on race day?

Not as much as some rounds like Brands or Zandvoort but not too bad.

[Kiwi3]

Originally Posted by kerrmanningjarv

37500 there in the weekend according to Team POR's official race report. So probably 25-30,000 on race day?

Not as much as some rounds like Brands or Zandvoort but not too bad.

Not too shabby if that is the case but it didn't look like that many on TV, then again it was hard to get a clear idea.

Wouldn't a holiday weekend mean it would be possible to get a larger crowd than if it was a normal weekend? Unless Portugese always spend Easter Sunday at home I suppose.

[MagnetON]

Originally Posted by Kiwi3

Unless Portugese always spend Easter Sunday at home I suppose.

I believe it's one of the more "observed" events, but I'm open to correction.

[markw63]

i have just got back from the Algarve and i have to say what a circuit.
The facilities will be awesome when finished completely.
There was however nowere near 25,000 people there, i would of said probably 5-10 at the most, it was fairly dead.
The main reason is the poor state of the economy over there, people are paid very poorly and 25-35 euros for tickets for the average worker is a lot of cash.
The total lack of support races was also a concern, watching a ferrari road car being driven round the track as a substitute race was poor. This is down to the total lack of "circuit" racing infrastructure at the moment in Portugal, hopefully this will change now there is another major circuit, lets hope so because the portuguese are keen.

[bella]

what sort of facilities were they still to finish? sounds like they could have done with leaving it another 6 months and dropping it to 10€ to have a proper opening event...

[markw63]

The facilities where actually fairly well complete around the circuit, its more the outside facilities, workshops etc that really need finishing.
The big dissapointment was the lack of any support events, the main event was a good spectacle though. I do feel for the portuguese that it was a bit too dear for just one real event.