At London's Grosvenor House Hotel on Sunday, the Singapore Grand Prix captured the Pioneering and Innovation Award at the Autosport Awards.

The awards, handed out by motor racing magazine Autosport since 1982, is widely regarded as being second only to the International Automobile Federation (FIA) awards in terms of prestige.

Colin Syn, deputy chairman of Singapore GP, collected the award from McLaren driver Heikki Kovalainen on behalf of the race.

He described the effect of the grand prix on Singapore and its people as 'overwhelming'.

'Our two recent awards have strengthened the entire team's resolve to deliver an even better race in 2009,' he said.

Only last month, the Marina Bay street circuit had been named the Motor Sport Facility of the Year at the Professional Motor Sport World annual awards in Cologne, Germany.

Also in attendance at Sunday's gala event was F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton, who was named International Racing Driver of the Year. Another winner was Sebastian Vettel, who was voted Rookie of the Year for his feats in a Toro Rosso.

There had been many question marks about the Republic's ability to stage F1's first night race, with visibility the chief concern. But these doubts were quickly dispelled once practice began.

Said Autosport: 'The spectacle and atmosphere were outstanding, with the twinkling lights of the city of Singapore making an evocative backdrop for the world championship battle.

'Comparisons with Monaco were fully justified, as the track blended beautifully into the cityscape and made excellent use of landmarks such as the historic Anderson Bridge.'

The night race attracted over 100,000 spectators and also cleverly tapped into the lunch-time European television audience. More than 30 million viewers in Europe, the sport's traditional heartland, followed the live coverage of the race.

Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.