The new Bilbao street circuit will be inaugurated this weekend, as the fifth round of the World Series by Renault introduces high-powered single-seater racing to the partisan Basque region of northern Spain.
After Monaco, Bilbao presents the series with its second bite of street racing, the new 3.9km layout winding its way around the streets of the picturesque city, close to the famous Guggenheim Museum.
To make the weekend more exciting for the local population,
Robert Kubica, representing the local Epsilon Euskadi team, heads to Bilbao as the leader of a championship which has already seen seven different winners in as many races. With team-mate Felix Porteiro among that septet, the Basques fans should have much to look forward to as the series launches into its fifth weekend, and its second on the trot after last weekend's visit to Le Mans.
Kubica has been the leading driver in the series since round one at Zolder, and was back on the podium for both races at Le Mans, extending his lead to 23 points. With Epsilon Euskadi being based at Azkoitia, just 65km from Bilbao, there should be no more popular driver this weekend, except maybe Spaniard Porteiro.
There will be no chance to test on the Bilbao circuit ahead of the event itself, unlike most other events which allow the teams access to the track on Thursdays. Instead, two 45-minute free practice sessions will give the 15 teams an opportunity to work on their set-ups ahead of qualifying on Saturday.
Monaco presented a similar challenge to the teams, and it was the Draco Multiracing USA squad that proved itself to be strongest in this domain, with Christian Montanari taking both the victory and pole position. The Italian team has remained on good form since, with Markus Winkelhock getting a taste of victory at Le Mans last weekend.
