This ought to be interesting..... Carol (f1 live) The inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the end of this season has been moved to a 'twilight' race time, it was confirmed at Spa Francorchamps on Friday. Sunday's race at the 2009 season finale in November will be held at 5pm local time instead of earlier in the afternoon as originally scheduled. Dusk in Abu Dhabi in November is scheduled for shortly before 6pm, meaning that by the end of the race at Yas Marina, it will be completely dark. Singapore hosted F1's first ever night race last year, but the 2009 season finale will be the first that begins under sunlight but ends with the aid of artificial lighting. "Yas Marina Circuit has been built from the outset to host day and night-time activities," event manager Richard Cregan is quoted as saying by the local newspaper The National, referring to 40-metre floodlighting structures that have been built at the venue. "It has always been our intention to showcase to the world this spectacular venue and this decision allows just that opportunity," he added. The twilight concept, used for the first time this year in Australia and Malaysia, provided a better television viewing time for the bulk European audience.
A perfect end to a completely Mosleyed season: More late evening snap decisions from stewards that have to be revised several days later. When are they scheduling the after-season press conference to announce who the FIA actually gave the championship to?
according to an article on f1 live, it's almost sold out Carol * * * The inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix day-night race, set to close the 2009 world championship, will be close to a Sunday sell out, according to Richard Cregan. The former Toyota team manager is now in charge of the new venue's management company, and he said on Sunday that he has been quite happy so far with ticket sales for the November 1 event. "We had a good take off when we announced the sale of tickets. They did drop in between which usually happens, but picked up after that. We are almost sold out but not quite. "There are still some tickets available. We are expecting 50,000 people on race day," he said.
Hold the phone. How can they have a twilight race in an Islamic country? Wouldn't that conflict with Maghrib (sunset) prayer time? According to online sources, Maghrib on 11/1 in Abu Dhabi is 5:43 pm, and Isha is 7:13 pm (post race interviews?). Wouldn't they have been better off scheduling for 12:30 (between Dhuhr (12:07) and Asr (3:19))? Or did they need a few extra hours, hoping to finish the track in time for the race? From desertspeak.com:
