The glorious sound of Ferrari V8 racing engines is about to break out around the historic Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit in Midrand as the fifth round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport comes to the home of South African motor sport for the first time this weekend.

More than 20 nations including South Africa will contest A1GP Gauteng on Sunday 22 February, with the day’s programme made up of two races — a Sprint race at 11am and a Feature race at 3pm.

There will also be demonstrations at 9.10am and 4.40pm on race day of the Ferrari FXX, a limited edition racing version of Maranello's finest. Michael Schumacher was given the last one built, number 30, when he retired at the end of 2006. The FXX is an evolution of the Enzo and is powered by a 6.3-litre V12 mid-mounted engine and develops 800.9bhp.

Other events on Sunday's full programme are a Supercar parade at 9.50am, a Shelby CanAm sports car race at 11.50am and a Formula Ford race at 12.30pm.

Friday's programme includes the two-part A1GP rookie and developing nation drivers practice session at 10.45am, A1GP second practice at 2pm and practice sessions for the supporting Shelby CanAm sports car and Formula Ford races.

A third A1GP practice session at 11am on Saturday is followed by the four-part A1GP qualifying session at 2.15pm that determines the starting grid order for Sunday's Sprint and Feature races. In addition, there are three Ferrari FXX demonstrations, two Supercar parades, qualifying for the support races and the first of two Shelby CanAm and Formula Ford races.

Race fans who have yet to buy tickets are being urged to do so without delay to avoid disappointment. Three of the eight Gold graded grandstands, all of which have great views of the circuit and the giant screens that have been specially erected, are sold out, two only have 20 to 30 seats left and the remaining three are selling quickly.

The organisers, Gauteng Motorsport Company, are considering building an additional 1500 Gold grandstand seats and have ordered a fifth, 30m² big screen to add to the two 30m² and two 40m² screens already on order for the event.

"We have seen the typical 'late buyer' surge in the ticket sales for Sunday, as we had expected," said Stephen Watson, CEO of Gauteng Motorsport Company.

"I am pleased to say that, through studying this trend from previous events, we have prepared for it and our grandstand construction contractors and concessionaires have all been on standby to deliver additional capacity within the last 10 days before the event if we require it.

"We certainly want to ensure that we accommodate as many race fans as possible, but must urge the fans not to leave it until the day before the race weekend as you may be disappointed."

Grandstand and general admission tickets can only be obtained from branches of Computicket around the country or at www.computicket.com.

Spectators are reminded that while normal parking facilities will be available at Kyalami on Friday, a 'park and ride' system will be in operation on Saturday and Sunday, 21 and 22 February, and will operate in conjunction with a road closure plan.

There will be no public parking within the precincts of Kyalami on the Saturday and Sunday. Instead, remote parking sites will be set up and dedicated shuttle buses will run between these sites and their respective gates on a continual basis, ensuring rapid movement of race fans from their car parks to the circuit and back again.

Saturday and Sunday ticket holders should ensure that they park in the remote parking that relates to their grandstand ticket or the general admission area. This system has been colour-coded for easier interpretation and each ‘zone’ will include its own parking area, grandstands and amenities, including food concession areas and toilets.

For further information and illustrated maps of the park and ride system and road closures, please visit www.a1gp.com or www.kyalamiracing.co.za.

Saturday's qualifying will be broadcast live on SABC3 from 1.30pm to 4pm and Sunday's sprint and feature races will be broadcast from 1pm to 5.30pm (the recorded sprint race will be screened from 1pm while the feature race will be live from 2pm).