AUGUST 5, 1996

Sauber goes to Austria

THE Red Bull Sauber Ford team is to stop off on its way home from the Hungaroring next week to test at the revised Osterreichring at Zeltweg.

THE Red Bull Sauber Ford team is to stop off on its way home from the Hungaroring next week to test at the revised Osterreichring at Zeltweg. Now known as the A1 Ring, the facility is expected to host an Austrian Grand Prix in August next year.

The test will give 22-year-old Austrian rising star Alexander Wurz his first chance to drive an F1 car. Wurz drives a works Opel in the International Touring Car Championship but won the Le Mans 24 Hours in a Porsche, partnering German ManuelÊReuter and American Davy Jones.

Wurz recently did the inaugural laps of the A1 Ring in a ITC Opel but crashed heavily. Last weekend the track hosted a round of the Motorcycling World Championship - the first event on the heavily-revised circuit.

Hidden away in the mountainous Styrian region of central Austria, the Osterreichring was built in 1969, replacing an old airfield track at Zeltweg, which dated back to 1958.

The Sauber test - which will also see Johnny Herbert running - has come about because the team's major sponsor RedÊBull is an Austrian company.