Star drivers offer help to young talent to develop F1 racing

A1 Grand Prix driver Ma Qinghua, 2005 Formula Campus national champion Chen Xu and Ma's coach Kang Hongwei have agreed to help the Asian Geely Formula International Open (AGF) improve the skills of young Chinese drivers.

The trio will be at a training camp, starting on April 24 in Beijing, which is part of the efforts by AGF to develop formula racing and increase its popularity.

"It is a long-time goal for AGF to produce local formula drivers. We select the drivers from a basic level. It is a fact that they are not able to compete with the world's top drivers," said Liu Jianquan, director of AGF.

"So it is very important for us to make the AGF international and give local drivers more opportunities to compete with drivers from around the world."

AGF has trained around 60 drivers since last year and some of them have qualified for AGF races.

Each training session will last three days and drivers will be given lessons in theoretical and practical knowledge.

Improving race safety is also an important part of training.

"We will also have training camp at Zhuhai International Circuit every year.

"In March this year we held a training session and some of them competed in one of the warm-up competitions during the GT tournament."

AGF, sanctioned by the International Automobile Association (FIA) and Federation of China Autosports (FASC), is the first domestic formula racing event. This season races will be held in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Zhuhai from June to November, three more than last year.

The cars, co-designed by Geely and UK racing company Van-Diemen, mark the first time that a domestic car producer has been involved in racing car design. The organizing committee has promised to do more work on improving the cars and narrowing the gap with F1 or A1 vehicles.

"We hope to improve the overall level of China's formula racing drivers, rather than those in the top group," said Li.

"AGF is a good platform to enhance driving skills and will help develop Chinese formula drivers. We also welcome overseas drivers taking part and helping develop the sport in China."

Liu also expressed his ambition to hold one stage of AGF abroad in the future.

"AGF is an Asian-wide tournament. Right now, it is still in the early stages of development. But I am confident in several years we will see AGF races in other Asian countries or regions. We will expand the presence of the AGF brand in this area."