Rotterdam Street Demo a Resounding Success
Christijan Albers, Tiago Monteiro and the Midland Formula
1 Racing team delighted a crowd of approximately 500,000 motorsport
fans who converged on the streets of Rotterdam to witness
the second-annual Bavaria City Racing event on Sunday afternoon.
Despite heavy rain at the start of the event, both Midland
drivers completed 4 laps of the temporary street circuit without
incident, unless one includes the exuberant burnouts, lurid
slides and doughnut spins that each driver used to punctuate
his stint behind the wheel of the M16 race car.
Local hero Christijan Albers, who originally hails from Eindhoven,
in the south of Holland, capped off his run on the drying
track with an outrageous, nine-rotation doughnut that left
the car engulfed in a cloud of tyre smoke for minutes afterward.
Upon climbing out of the cockpit, Albers doffed his helmet
and threw it into the crowd of appreciative fans.
Albers also found himself pulling executive chauffeur duty
today, driving extra laps in the safety car with Dutch Prime
Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and Rotterdam Mayor Ivo Opstelten
as his passengers.
The street demo wrapped up three days of intensive preparation
and publicity for Midland F1 Racing, including last night's
"Burning Rubber" gala dinner, which Christijan got
off to a raucous start by arriving in no less a head-turner
than the M16.
The team is honoured to have been invited to attend the Bavaria
Street Racing event and looks forward to being a part of its
continuing success.
Christijan Albers (NED), Car #19 - "Wow,
that was just incredible! I knew it would be fantastic, because
I participated in this event last year, but the enthusiasm
of the Dutch fans never fails to amaze me. They turned out
in record numbers today - in the rain, no less - so I hope
they enjoyed what they saw here today. For my part, it was
certainly a pleasure to be part of it, and I'm looking forward
to more Dutch motorsport events in the future. including,
hopefully, a Dutch Grand Prix!"
Tiago Monteiro (POR), Car #18 - ""What
an amazing day! I had such a fantastic time. Rotterdam has
an amazing little street circuit and extremely dedicated race
fans. It's great that we were able to come here and represent
F1. The weather was terrible, which made driving the car quite
tricky, but I still had a great time. I would like to thank
the race organisers and the people of Rotterdam for the warm
reception they gave us here today."
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