F1 grand prix shifts for V8 return
An AAP report says that Melbourne has sacrificed its pole position in the Formula One Grand Prix season to regain the popular V8 supercars as a feature of the event.
Organisers have also rejected calls for a night race, and will instead push back the start time from 2pm to 3.30pm to accommodate international television audiences.
Next year’s Australian Grand Prix (AGP) will be held in Melbourne on March 13-16, and will be the second race on the F1 calendar, after being season opener for 11 years.
In 2006, organisers moved the race to third in the calendar to accommodate the Commonwealth Games.
Australian Grand Prix Corporation chairman Ron Walker said the shift would enable the V8s to be included in the race program and would not reduce coverage of the event.
After being a regular race on the Melbourne program, the V8s were dropped last year because the race didn’t fit into their program.
“Originally when we had the opening race we believed, in the interest of all the journalists that come from overseas, that it was a good idea,” Mr Walker said.
“But it’s not the greatest thing to have the first race anymore,” he said.
“We don’t get the team merchandise on time so there’s literally no team merchandise here for sale for the first race, now we’ll have all the team merchandise.”
Mr Walker said Formula 1 chief Bernie Ecclestone had assured him the same number of journalists attended later races as were at the first grand prix of the season.
Organisers expect the V8s to draw a bigger crowd.
V8 Supercars Australia chairman Tony Cochrane said next year’s event would be “tremendous” for motor racing fans.
“If you’re in sport and you’re not looking after the fans first and foremost then you’re out of business pretty quickly,” he said.
The altered start time comes after Mr Ecclestone reportedly questioned the future of the Australian race beyond 2010 if it was not staged at night to accommodate European television audiences.
Mr Walker said the new time was a great compromise.
“It works well for the American audience and it works beautifully for the Asian audience,” he said.
The new date has also been chosen to avoid clashes with the city’s other major events.
Victorian Tourism Minister Tim Holding wants to extend Victoria’s rights to the race beyond 2010.
A recent auditor-general’s report found the cost of staging the grand prix outweighed its benefit to Victorians.
The 2005 Grand Prix cost Victorians $69.8 million, $6.7 million more than the benefits were worth.
About 300,000 people attended last year’s four-day event.
An Australian Grand Prix Corporation spokesman said Bahrain was likely to host the first race next year.
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