The Chinese capital of Beijing will play host to round three of this 2006/07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport this weekend. The race will be the first major international motorsport event to be held in the city and, after a month-long break, A1 Team Brasil is keen to get back in action on the street course that has been designed for the weekend's events.

For the Beijing round, A1 Team Brasil will be handing driving duties to Raphael Matos, who embarks on his A1 debut this weekend in China. The team is looking to utilize the 25-year-old's vast knowledge of street circuits from his experience in the Champ Car Atlantic Championship, in which he finished fourth in the 2005 season, after notching up one win and two runner-up positions on street tracks. Backing up Raphael this weekend will be Tuka Rocha (right), who raced the first two rounds of this year's championship for Team Brasil.

The specially constructed street course is located around 20 minutes from Beijing's centre, in the Yizhang area of the city. The track is just over 3km in length and features long straights, 90-degree corners and tight hairpin bends which snake through Beijing's economic and technology development area and public roads.

Raphael Matos: "I feel really good about joining the team this weekend. Obviously, I need to get used to the car since I only had one day of testing, but I definitely feel that the street course fits my driving style since I have had success on street racing in the Atlantic Series. My goal is definitely to get a good result for the team. Obviously we are always looking for a victory and that is what I'm aiming for. Of course it depends on many factors and the development of the car in this track. I hope we have a good base line, and we can be quick right out of the box. I think A1 is definitely the place to be because of the level of the competition. It is also a different feeling because you compete for your country, and that is definitely an honour. I was surprised and very excited about this opportunity, and I hope I won't disappoint my fellow countrymen. I want to thank the whole crew and Emerson Fittipaldi for this chance."

Tuka Rocha: "After a long break, I am really looking forward to this weekend. I hope we can manage to improve the car for this race. I know the team is working very hard, and after two races we have much more experience. It's interesting to come to a street circuit. I raced once on this type of circuit in the SudAm F3 Championship in Uruguay. I really enjoyed that, and won the race, so hopefully we can do a good job this weekend."