The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport made a one-off visit to Beijing for a chaotic weekend in 2006. This was on a temporary street circuit in the southeastern Yizhuang suburb – the first of two different venues to be named Beijing’s International Street Circuit. It ran through an industrial estate with its paddock in an exhibition centre. Already delayed until the afternoon while FIA delegate Charlie Whiting issued the circuit licence, Friday practice was cancelled because the Turn 8 hairpin on the original 1.894-mile layout was too narrow to negotiate. The layout was reduced overnight with a less tight Turn 8 relocated halfway along the dual carriageway, but loose manhole covers curtailed Saturday. A recovery truck then temporarily blocked the circuit during the Sprint Race which forced the safety car-controlled field to sit and wait. And the pitlane was too short to adequately accommodate all the cars in busy race conditions. A lack of funding was cited when it was announced that the circuit would not be used again with the race moved to Zhuhai for 2007.
