This weekend Christian Klien will attend the DITech Racingshow as a celebrity guest. Here he talks about the current state of affairs.

You were a guest two years ago at the inaugural Racingshow. And you wrote hundreds of autographs. How important is touching base with your fans every once in a while?
It is not only important. It is our damn duty. One should never forget what sacrifices some race fans bring to afford a grand stand ticket. This is the basis for our whole sport. And this is why fans deserve to be treated with respect.

For Christian Klien the new racing season starts like the last ended - down under. The Austrian will take part in the 12 hours of Bathurst on the legendary Mount Panorama track on February 24-26 to kick off his racing season 2012.

The former F1 driver will race a Lotus Exige S alongside car owner Rob Thomson, a successful business man from Brisbane (Planbuild Homes), who seems to have been impressed by Klien's performance at the Gold Coast 600 in Surfers Paradise last October, the Austrian's maiden Aussie V8 start. Thompson is hoping that Klien's speed and experience will put his team in a strong position at the Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour.

Heat 2 at the Gold Coast 600 in Surfers Paradise was short and all but sweet for Christian Klien. After an encouraging first race in which the Austrian and his Australian team mate Peter Dumbrell managed to work their way up from P23 to P5 during the race, hopes were high on Sunday. Qualifying sector times were a good indication that the Bottle 'O-Racing car was ready to go for a top 5 spot at least.

Christian Klien's debut as a V8 supercars driver in Australia has been fairly successful in race 1 at the Gold Coast 600 today. Starting from P23 he and his Bottle ´O-Racing Team-Ford team mate Paul Dumbrell managed to work their way up to fifth place before an unlucky safety car period relegated the #55 car back to fifteenth in the end. Still, Christian managed to impress his team by quickly adapting to the completely new, heavy V8 machinery. He put in solid laps and stayed away from the wall at the narrow street circuit at Surfers' Paradise.

Aston Martin Racing has successfully completed the Autosport 6 Hours of Silverstone, round five of this year's Intercontinental Le Mans Cup and round four of the Le Mans Series. The #007 DBR1-2 LMP1-class prototype, driven by Adrian Fernandez (MEX), Christian Klien (A) and Harold Primat (CH), finished ninth overall with no major problems during this afternoon's enduro at the Northamptonshire venue. The V12 petrol-engined car suffered a brief spin which resulted in losing a rear tyre close to the four-hour mark in the hands of Primat after contact with a GT-class car, but otherwise there were no issues.