Laguna Golf Apartments & Villas

Are you thinking of coming on a late deal golf holiday?

Then I suggest you take a look at this special offer being offered by Laguna Golf Apartments & Villas in Vilamoura.

You can stay in a brand new luxury 2 bedroom apartment, 2 bathroom and play 5 rounds of golf for only £375 per person based on 4 people sharing.

Laguna Golf Apartments & Villas is made up of 34 apartments and 13 villas all luxuriously furnished.

For more information click here.

Laguna Golf Apartments & Villas

Laguna Golf Apartments and Villas, located next to the Laguna Golf course in Vilamoura has today launched its official website.

This site allows you to book directly on-line and take advantage of booking things such as your car hire, golf, excursions etc.

Through its Elina booking system you can create your own account to add, delete or change things as you wish, it couldn't be simpler.

New Blogs

Dear All,

Its been awhile since my last posting, this has been due to a very hectic 4 months preparing new developments for the summer 2009.

Algarve Property Lifestyle is now developing with Algarve Property Rentals ways to assist property owners here on the Algarve who are looking to rent out their properties.

We are also promoting great new developments such as Laguna Golf Apartments & Villas in Vilamoura a brand new luxury four star development.

Please click on the links and give me back some feedback.

Brawn & Brains

2009 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX
MELBOURNE
28 MARCH
QUALIFYING

The Brawn GP team locked out the front row of the grid today in qualifying for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

On the day in which the team announced its new partnership with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, Jenson Button put theBGP 001 car on pole at the end of a closely-fought qualifying hour. Team-mate Rubens Barrichello will start alongside Jenson on the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s 58-lap race.

The BGP 001 cars ran at the front of the field throughout qualifying with the team’s two drivers vying for position at the top of the timesheets. Rubens took the honours in Q1 and Q2, posting the fastest lap of qualifying in the second session. In the pole position shoot-out, both drivers completed two runs with Jenson taking pole in the dying seconds of the session.

RESULTS

Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Free Practice Qualifying 1 Qualifying 2 Qualifying 3

Jenson Button 22 BGP 001-02 P3 P2 01:25.211 P2 01:24.855 P1 01:26.202
Rubens Barrichello 23 BGP 001-01 P6 P1 01:25.006 P1 01:24.783 P2 01:26.505

Weather Warm and sunny

Temperatures Air: 24-25°C Track: 29-33°C

JENSON BUTTON

“To put the car on pole at our debut race is a fantastic achievement and I have to give so much credit to Ross, Nick and everyone at the factory in Brackley. The last four months have been incredibly tough for the team and to go from a situation where you don’t even know if you are going to be racing to achieving pole at the first race of the season is just incredible.
Tomorrow is obviously the most important day of the weekend and there is a lot of work to be achieved to come away with a successful result however we have to remember where we have been and really enjoy this moment.”

RUBENS BARRICHELLO

“It has been a great day and I want to congratulate the team for an outstanding job. I was hoping that I could put the car on pole and it was looking good in the first two sessions but in Q3 I developed some understeer in the car which comprised my final runs. However the first row for both cars is a real credit to the team and gives us a great chance in the race tomorrow.
We have a really good car which everyone deserves credit for and I am just so happy to be racing at the front again.”

ROSS BRAWN

“Watching our two cars top the timesheets throughout qualifying capped an excellent day for the team which began with the announcement of our new partnership with Virgin this afternoon. The track conditions were more favourable than we experienced yesterday and we found that the tyres worked in a more conventional way. In addition, the changes that we had made following yesterday’s practice sessions proved positive and both drivers had a well-balanced car which allowed them to concentrate on maximising the lap times. Whilst this is a great achievement and gives both drivers an excellent opportunity in the race tomorrow, the job is only half done and our full focus is now on getting the best result possible in the race. I would like to pay credit to Jenson, Rubens and the whole team, both here and at our factory, for their achievement today and to Mercedes-Benz for their invaluable support over the past few months.”

McCann appeal returns to Portugal

Madeleine McCann's parents are to launch a high-intensity new appeal for information tightly focused on the area where she went missing.

Over the next two weeks 10,000 leaflets in Portuguese will be handed out and posted in letterboxes in Praia da Luz, Lagos and Burgau in southern Portugal.

The campaign will also advertise on billboards, three buses and a van.

Madeleine, of Rothley, Leicestershire, vanished from a holiday flat in Praia da Luz, in the Algarve, on 3 May 2007.

Vital clue

Despite an international publicity campaign and massive police search, she has never been found.

Kate and Gerry McCann's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said the hope was to find the vital clue that could lead to Madeleine, who was nearly four when she went missing, being found.

Experience shows that people almost always confide in someone else Find Madeleine Fund

The official Find Madeleine Fund said in a statement: "At the time of Madeleine's disappearance the emphasis was placed more on international appeals, and it has been recognised that the local Portuguese residents of Praia da Luz and the surrounding areas have never been properly asked about information they may have to give.

"Someone in the area could almost certainly have the vital information that could help Madeleine's return to her family, or a combination of people all coming forward with a single piece of information could piece together vital clues which could solve the disappearance.

"Experience also shows that people almost always confide in someone else."

Information can be provided to the McCanns' private investigation team anonymously by telephone, email, text message or free post, and will be treated in confidence.

Team Australia's John Martin looks ahead to upcoming A1GP race in Portugal

Team Australia lead driver John Martin talks to foxsports.com.au about the upcoming A1GP race at the new Algarve circuit in Portugal.

Martin will be looking to erase the disappointment of his last start at Kyalami, South Africa when a pit stop problem in the feature race prevented his team from capitalising on a promising position.

I hear you're travelling through Italy on your way to Portugal - will you be hopping into the simulator for the new Algarve track?

I will definitely hop into the simulator in Italy, which is a week before I head to Portugal. It will be great to put some practice laps in because the track looks pretty interesting. It’s a brand new circuit and I don't think many people have raced there yet. Only the superbikes have raced there so far and F1 and has done a bit of testing there but apart from that I think we (A1GP) will be the first major race there.

So what are your thoughts on the new track?

It’s pretty big really, fairly wide and smooth - really good. I’ve seen some footage of it on the internet and it looks really impressive. There are plenty of hills and stuff in it - different cambers and corners - I think it will be great. Should be plenty of opportunity for passing; A1 is always fast, anyway.

What have you been up to since the South African GP? There must have been some mixed emotions after the Gauteng race.

I've been great chilling out back home in Queensland and doing some training. As for the South Africa incident, we have moved on. Everyone realised what happened and it was an unfortunate ending but at least we proved we had the pace. We just have to push on for Portugal, where we have the potential to be right up the front.

Talk us through the problems you encountered in South Africa.

We qualified OK for the feature race and had a reasonably good start due to a collision between the New Zealand and Malaysian teams. I got into third quite easily and had some really good pace at that stage coming in for the first pit stop. We had an agreement with the German team before the start of the race that we were going to stop on the first available opportunity - which we did - but they decided to come in after us. I don’t know whose idea that was but when we attempted to leave the pits the German car was blocking our exit. When I hit the breaks to avoid them the anti-stall failed and the car wouldn’t start again. It was a bit of a pain, really.

What were relations like between the Australian and the German teams after that?

Obviously nobody was very happy but I don’t think there was anything said. We just took that incident on the chin and we will learn from it and move on.

Was any action taken against the Germans?

No, it was just a congested area in the pit lane - they did nothing illegal. But I thought our team had an agreement with theirs. Unfortunately, they didn’t stick with that agreement - it’s their decision I guess.

You mentioned your speed was very good until that happened. It must give you confidence for the remaining rounds.

Yes it was, and later on in the race when we put the new tyres on we held the fastest lap time for a long period of the race. It was a good genuine race-speed lap. By the end of the race we had a lot more pace than Team Switzerland (who won the race). Team Switzerland were a long way in front before we ran into trouble in the pits but I think second was definitely achievable.

What are the chances of a podium placing before the end of the season?

The ability is there; we just need to pull it all together. I want to try to improve my sprint qualifying times because I have been lacking a bit there. But we should be OK, I think. The last two rounds are great - Portugal looks like an awesome track and I know the Brands Hatch track and have raced well there. There are positive signs for the future.

Olhanense, cheered on by expat fans, push for promotion

In the Portuguese Division 2, leaders SC Olhanense had a comfortable win over local Algarve rivals Portimonense last Sunday.

The large crowd of 5,434 was in festive mood in front of the Sport TV cameras and they were treated to an emphatic 4-0 victory when their local heroes from Olhão cemented their place at the top of the table with a hat-trick from centre-forward Djalmir and a fourth goal from substitute João Paulo.

Some twenty British ex-pats are regular fans and the number is growing as the group promotes the club throughout the central and eastern Algarve. The family orientated and friendly club are striving to join the giants of FC Porto, Benfica and Sporting in Liga Sagres. The club’s marketing department have met with the group to create a partnership that hopes to recruit more British and Irish members to savour the unique atmosphere of the José Arcanjo Stadium. Posters in English now appear in cafes, bars and hotels from Faro to Vila Real Santo António whilst the club’s new monthly magazine contains two pages of copy in English. The group also produce a match day programme to keep themselves abreast of team news and details of away trips.

Members of the group have already travelled to Benfica and Boavista with their new Portuguese friends. Club President Isidoro Sousa said last week “It is very pleasing, they have been tireless in their support and are much in love with Olhanense. We hope they keep supporting us and bring more Britons to Olhão. I am very optimistic.”

When Olhanense, the only 2nd Division club to reach the quarter-finals of the Carlsberg League Cup, were drawn away to Benfica in January, there was tremendous excitement. With 1,800 fans from the Algarve, waving their commemorative scarves, they certainly made an impressive sight in the Stadium of Light.

Despite losing the game 4-1, Olhanense were the equal of Benfica during the first half and even had the audacity to take the lead.

Following that defeat in Lisbon in January, the team lost ground with three successive league defeats but recent form including outstanding wins away at Boavista 4-1 and the 4-0 win against Portimonense have confirmed Olhanense as promotion favourites. The top two teams are promoted and with eight games to play they are a point ahead of Santa Clara (Azores) and seven points clear of 3rd placed team Leiria. Portimonense remain 13th.Tickets can be purchased at the ground on match days and if you enjoy the experience why not become a member. Allocated seating in the main stand, own refreshment area, priority booking for major games and a match day programme in English.

For further information contact: Chris Wright on 916504 903, christopher.wright@hotmail.co.uk or Brian Evans on 913 595 868, brian@moonlightservices.eu