The Formula One Korean Grand Prix (F1) race is ready to meet its six hundred million fans worldwide as its third edition kicks off on October 12 at the Korea International Circuit in Yeongam, South Jeolla Province, a southern area of Korea.

Two practice runs will be held this Friday, and the third one will start on Saturday, followed by the qualifying race. The final race is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. on Sunday.

The winner of F1 will be determined after drivers get through 20 races. The Korean Grand Prix is the 16th among the races in the ongoing F1 season.

Drivers will do 55 laps on the 5.615-kilometer Korea International Circuit. Sebastian Vettel of Germany was the winner of last year’s race, and he won the title in 1 hour, 38 minutes and 1.994 seconds.

The race champion is awarded 25 points, the runner-up earns 18 points, 15 points for the third-place and so forth. Last year, Vettel had 122 points in the final drivers’ standings.

Fernando Alonso of Spain, the 2010 Korean Grand Prix winner, is in the top position so far, garnering 194 points. Vettel is following him closely with 190 points. Kimi Raikkonen is 33 points behind Vettel in third, so it seems that this year’s battle for the top could be between Vettel and Alonso.

The competition is not only for each driver but also for teams. For the constructor’s championship, twelve teams also compete. Red Bull-Renault is on top with 324 points gained by Vettel and Mark Webber, followed by McLaren-Mercedes with 283. Ferrari is third with 263.

Meanwhile, Korean pop sensation Psy, who is the promotional ambassador for the Korean Grand Prix, will perform his hit song “Gangnam Style” after the final race.

People with a three-day pass or the one-day ticket for the final on Sunday will be able to attend the Psy’s performance regardless of their seating zone. Since Psy’s “Gangnam Style” has gone viral worldwide, organizers of the race are expecting that his performance will attract more people to visit to Yeongam to see the race.

Even one of the F1 drivers is excited to see Psy’s performance. Nico Rosberg, a driver of Mercedes and winner of this year’s Chinese Grand Prix, said “I enjoy the circuit a lot, and I am excited to get to Korea after following the new Gangnam craze on the Internet in the last few months. When I have some time away from the car and engineering meetings, I’m definitely looking forward to his performance this weekend.

Image Courtesy of  CHEN WS / Shutterstock.com

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Korean pop singer, Psy, who recently became a global sensation with his song ‘Gangnam Style’, has mentioned plans to release a new song or an album in the U.S.

At a news conference held in Seoul, Korea on September 25 (local time), Psy said, “I heard the sales volume of music album is increasing around Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. My agency asked me to release a new song or album by upcoming November. However, as you know, it is impossible to write new song in a short period, so I’m thinking to use songs I wrote before.”

He added, “Thankfully, my agency (Universal Republic Records) suggested me to release a new song or album in Korean language. I appreciate that people think my Korean rap sounds catchy, but I am now putting on my thinking cap before I start work. I think my first single song will be released around November, and a second single will be made in English.”

To spice up the climb of Gangnam Style on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Psy has bet that he will perform Gangnam Style shirtless in front of as many audiences as possible if his song tops the legendary chart, saying, “I have seen some reports or news articles by music experts about the possibility that Gangnam Style’s topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart. I’m sure the song will place its name in top 10.”

At the end of the news conference, he made his exit with the “dancing horse” dance, making reporters laugh out loud.

Seventy foreign reporters and about 200 reporters from Korean media were gathered at the news conference, showing Psy’s soaring popularity.

Psy, who flew back to Korea on September 25, is planning to stay in Korea for three weeks. Psy is going to manage a tight schedule.

He is scheduled to perform at the universities’ festival, and about ten universities are waiting for Psy to visit their campuses. On October 2, he will perform at the “CY×PSY concert, Let’s Play with Psy” with an audience of about 10,000, and the concert will be offered for free. He will perform at the Pusan International Film Festival and a national athletic meet on October 6, and 11 respectively.

Since he is one of the judges of Korean singer audition show “Super Star K,” he will attend the show as a judge during his visit to Korea.

The schedules of filming commercials are also lining up for Psy. At least five advertisers are waiting for Psy to work with them, according to Psy’s Korean agency YG Family. The agency said, “As the popularity of Gangnam Style increases, Psy is dated up with many domestic and foreign schedules.”

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A gun battle broke out on September 21 between armed gangsters in Thailand because of the song “Gangnam Style.”

Gangnam Style is the popular song by Korean pop singer Psy. This song is currently being appreciated by many people worldwide with its catchy melody and funny dance.

According to the Bangkok Post, two gangster groups, which have been rivaling with one another for years, fired off their guns at least 50 times at each other in downtown Bangkok on Friday.

The newspaper reported that two gangsters hold a ‘Gangnam Style’ dance contest. However, as the contest got along and the participants got excited, gang members started provoking and mocking each other, causing a volatile situation that broke into gun battle.

It is reported that some cars were damaged, but no people were injured.

Thailand has the second largest number of viewers of the Gangnam Style music video in the world, followed by the U.S., according to YouTube.

In Thailand, not only the original version of Gangnam style is enjoying popularity but also the parody versions are winning attention.

As of September 22, a parody video made by Thai YouTube user ‘tigercrychannel’ has attracted over 7,000,000 viewers, and another parody video, ‘Gangnam Style Bie The Ska’ has gotten over 3,600,000 viewers.

Meanwhile, The music video of Gangnam style has surpassed two million views on YouTube so far. The video ranked 30th in the number of viewers ranking of YouTube. It took only 70 days for Psy’s music video to land this spot.

It is expected that the music video of Psy’s Gangnam Style would attract over 500 million viewers by upcoming November at this pace, according to Korea’s newspaper etnews.

The music video of Gangnam Style attracted one hundred million viewers on YouTube only within 52 days, while it took 56 days for Justin Biber’s “Baby,” and 114 days for Beyonce’s “Single Lady.”

If the video of Gangnam Style reaches the number of 300 million viewers, it will be ranked in top 20, and when it attracts 500 million viewers, it will place its name in top 5.

Justin Biber’s “Baby” is currently on the first place of this ranking with having 780 million viewers.

Psy has just started his move in the U.S, promoting himself by being on many American shows and performing in concerts, it is expected that he would garner more viewers on YouTube and drag more people’s attention.

Gangnam Style is on the 11th spot on the Billboard and the 1st spot on iTunes Charts as of September 22.

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