Montreal, Canada (June 13, 2006) – Istanbul Park in Turkey plays host to the third round of the 2006 World Series by Renault this weekend, 17-18 June, and Canada’s Sean McIntosh can’t wait to get there!  Having come close to scoring top-ten finishes in the previous two rounds in Belgium, where he was taken out from seventh on the penultimate lap, and Monaco, where he finished eleventh, the 21-year-old from Vancouver is looking to the Turkish track to jump-start his summer campaign and open his World Series points account.

McIntosh’s adventure to Eastern Europe sees him faced with learning yet another new race track, this time the 5.340km Istanbul Park, a challenge the young Canadian has risen to admirably through his time racing for A1 Team Canada over the winter and in each of his previous two World Series by Renault starts.  Located in the Tuzla region and opened just last year, the 13-turn anti-clockwise track, designed by Hermann Tilke, hosted the first ever Turkish Grand Prix last August.

This weekend’s on-track activities in Istanbul sees the World Series return to its double-header race format following the one-off race at Monaco.  While the 30-car field was limited in its track time around the Principality they’ll head into Saturday and Sunday’s qualifying sessions and races in Turkey armed with two days of testing at the circuit on Thursday and Friday – a luxury in comparison! 

Prior to his departure today Sean said:

“I really enjoyed Monaco but I’m pumped to be getting back on a circuit that was actually designed for modern race cars like our Formula Renault 3.5’s!  Monaco was always going to be a bit of a lottery due to the limited track time but this week in Turkey we’ve got plenty of running time to try and get in shape for the weekend’s action.

“For some reason I’ve always run well on tracks designed by Hermann Tilke so I’m hoping I’ll be able to replicate that form in Istanbul.  It’s a fast, flowing track and not too dissimilar from the Nurburgring where I was quick in pre-season testing.  Based on that we’ll hopefully have a good set-up on the car heading into Thursday’s test session.  It’s an anti-clockwise circuit so I’ve been preparing for the extra physical demands expected on the likes of my neck muscles.  I’ve heard good things about the circuit and I can’t wait to see if for myself.”

With a pair of two-hour test sessions on Thursday, followed by almost another two hours track time on Friday, Sean’s race weekend starts Saturday, 17 June, with qualifying in the morning followed by Race 1 (17 laps) at 2:40pm EET with Race 2 (23 laps) starting on Sunday, 18 June, at 1pm EET.

ENDS – www.seanmcintosh.com

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