26/02/2016
NEWS STORY
With less than four months to go until the inaugural Formula One race in Azerbaijan, Baku City Circuit has announced that most primary construction works as part of the first phase of preparations for the Grand Prix of Europe have been completed.
Since the beginning of the construction work to create Baku City Circuit more than 90% of the first-stage road works, including the removal of the existing road surface and replacement by a new asphalt layer, have now been successfully completed.
As such, most of the existing track surface has already been removed and replaced by a 5cm bottom layer of the new asphalt surface. Furthermore, the process of setting the upper layer of the new asphalt surface will begin in late March and is expected to be finished by early May. All surface preparations are being kept strictly in line with existing FIA standards.
In addition, work has also begun outside the Government Building, which will be the location of the paddock and pitlane next June. Indeed, the first parts of the two-story pit building, which will run to a length of 309m with a width of 21.4m - have already begun to be erected on-site.
In order to reduce the impact of these major construction works on the daily lives of Baku's residents and the city's traffic, BCC has prepared a special construction plan that is being implemented in close collaboration with all relevant government agencies. BCC has also prepared a Traffic Management Plan in order to ensure the smooth flow of traffic in downtown Baku during the race week as well as a Transportation Operations Plan which aims to deliver efficient and responsive transportation services for all visitors to Baku during the weekend of the race.
Nigar Arpadarai, BCC's Head of Marketing and Communication Department, commented on the new circuit's current progress: "We are delighted to see our preparations for the arrival of Formula 1 in Baku developing on schedule. As we get closer to the race weekend, our excitement and joy at hosting this major sporting event continues to grow. We are pushing ourselves to the limit and are quite literally leaving no stone unturned to ensure we deliver the best motorsport event of the year in Baku this coming June."
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