Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya is the venue for next weekend’s Formula 1 Gran Premio de España Santander2012 de Formula 1, which celebrates its 56^th edition. This motoring event will start on Thursday 10 May with the traditional pit lane walkabout and autograph signings for all holders of Grand Prix tickets.

Most teams will have a performance upgrade on their car this weekend. There have been four different winners in the first four races this season. Standings are Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), Mark Webber (Red Bull), Jenson Button (McLaren) and Fernando Alonso (Ferrari).

Vilanova Grand Marina – Barcelona’s technical area has set up a painting division to provide its clients with a permanent, agile and high quality yacht painting service, thanks to an agreement with the Spanish company ADP (Alfonso de Prada). Since March, the new painting services offer a wide array of solutions that include painting of hulls and superstructures, antifouling removal, application of epoxy rust inhibitors, osmosis treatment, mast painting and burnishing, amongst others.

ADP’s 25 years experience in the nautical industry enables Vilanova’s technical area to offer a certified professional quality service with the use of cutting edge technologies in maintenance and application of products that aim to achieve high customer satisfaction levels, such as metalized finishing, propellers and shafts silicone treatments… In this sense, Vilanova’s technical area, through its partner ADP, has agreements with the industry’s top brands such as Awlgrip, International Marine Coatings Antifoulings, Epifanes Varnishes, West System y Propspeed.

The division employs a team of professionals permanently based at Vilanova’s facilities and offers a technical management service led by engineers for the supervision of applications and treatments.

The fully operational phase I of Vilanova Grand Marina – Barcelona’s technical area has reached a 100% occupancy during the last two months, offering a comprehensive service of dry docking and final preparation of yachts, which range from a simple inspection, hull cleaning and antifouling application to a complete refit. As well as having its own personnel to carry out these works, the marina employs some of the best professionals specialised in repair & refit of yachts. The technical area has been operational since beginning of 2011 and has already exceeded expectations.

Barcelona holds the city’s Open Tennis 2012, also known as Godó Tournament, from 21st to 29th April, where many of the world’s best tennis players are taking part. This prestigious clay-court tournament celebrates its 60th anniversary at the Real Club Tenis Barcelona and has become a truly social event that goes beyond a strictly sporting competition. Rafael Nadal will defend his title, taking on top rivals like the tournament’s second seed Scot Andy Murray and Spain’s clay-court specialist David Ferrer.

In the doubles competition, the American twins Bob and Mike Bryan, considered the world’s best double since they became World No. 1 in 2005, will face fierce competition with the World No. 2 pair Daniel Nestor and Max Mirnyi. In the previous 59 editions, players from 17 countries have claimed the title at the Real Club Tenis Barcelona. Spain leads the ranking with 21 trophies, followed by Sweden with 8 crowns, USA (six), Australia (four) and former Czechoslovakia (three).

More info: http://www.barcelonaopenbancsabadell.com/

The Associació Catalana de Ports Esportius i Turístics, of which Vilanova Grand Marina is a member, will organise its annual two-day meeting at the beginning of May in L’Escala, located in Costa Brava. The conferences will focus on technical and practical issues of interest to marinas’ general managers, including customers’ loyalty, environmental management, economic boost of marina activities and industry’s future. Last year’s conferences were co-organised by Vilanova Grand Marina.

Vilanova Grand Marina – Barcelona has just opened within its premises a new social facility for captains and crew staying at the marina. The new English-type Pub serves food as well as a large variety of beers and drinks. It features a chill out outdoor area for customers to enjoy the warm Mediterranean climate.

If you are a classic car lover, save Sunday 11th March on your calendar to witness the International Vintage Car Rally Barcelona-Sitges, which celebrates its 54th edition this year. Over 60 cars from Spain and other European countries, all manufactured before 1928, will “race” the 45 km stretch that separate Barcelona from the lovely seaside town of Sitges, next to Vilanova. Rather than a competition about the fastest cars, this rally is much more an exhibition of the most beautiful old-timers. To complete the fun the drivers and their companions dress in period costumes.

The rally will start at 11.00 on Sunday from Plaça Sant Jaume in Barcelona’s old town. The finishing line will be the square La Fragata in Sitges in front of the church, where cars will be on display for a few hours.

Capt. Paul Bickley, skipper of the 53m Benetti M/Y Latitude, visitedBarcelona in February at the invitation of Vilanova Grand Marina for being crowned Fraser Yacht’s Charter Captain of the Year in 2011. The captain and his wife stayed at the 5-star Casa Fuster, an iconic, Modernist building built in 1908 that occupies one of the most prestigious locations in the city, at the head of the chic Passeig de Gracia. As well as a weekend trip toBarcelona, the marina offered Capt. Bickley free mooring for two weeks at its facilities. The marina is sponsor of the annual Fraser Yachts black-tie dinner at the Monaco Yacht Show.

Free berthing days for superyachts and attractive discounts

Vilanova Grand Marina – Barcelona offers superyachts free berthing days during spring months for the second consecutive year. The campaign mainly focuses on those superyachts coming back from theCaribbean in search of a facility that will enable them to prepare for the summer charter season.

The Spring promotion for 2012 includes, as well as free dockage for several days, discounts on rental fees for longer stays, in line with last year’s campaign, which showed excellent results. The management at Vilanova expects to register an improvement in occupancy from March to June in comparison to 2011 and reach its maximum level since it opened in April 2009.

Vilanova Grand Marina’s shipyard has recently accommodated Parsifal III, the 54m (177ft) Perini Navi sailing yacht, for its mast repaint job. The two-month project, which concluded last December, consisted of the repainting of the 65m carbon fibre main mast, mizzen mast and booms and was carried out by Vilanova’s team, THL Yacht Riggers and Majorca-based paint company Rolling Stock Finishing & Refinishing.

This is one of the largest projects carried out so far at Vilanova’s shipyard since its becoming operational at the beginning of last year. The 8,000 sq m specialist repair & refit technical area offers a comprehensive service of dry docking and final preparation of yachts. The shipyard and the marina, boasting 49 berths for 25 to 100m yachts, are integrated in a single, consolidated space bringing added value to its customers.