May 19 (GMM) Organisers of the Australian grand prix have been told to stage a night race next year or forego a contract extension after the event in 2010.
The Adelaide newspaper Sunday Mail will on Sunday quote F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone as warning that only a floodlit race held after 9pm at Albert Park next March may be enough to satisfy the sport's officialdom.
"Unless they (organisers) can come up with something that's going to satisfy us I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be able to continue there," he said, not long after inking a deal with Singapore for the first ever night race in 2008.
The news is just the latest instalment in the flagging fortunes of the Melbourne race, which has suffered growing losses and declining crowd numbers and local sponsorship in recent years.
Ecclestone said GP boss Ron Walker knows about his demands for a night race.
"Ron is not stupid and he knows exactly what is at stake," the 76-year-old Briton said, although an insider at the Australian Grand Prix Corporation warned that it is unlikely to happen.
"To have formula one cars hooning around Albert Park at 9pm won't go down well with the locals and it's a family event, so afternoon is obviously the ideal time," the unnamed insider said.
A Victorian government spokesman, however, insisted: "We will be seeking to keep the event in Melbourne."
Written: Sun, 20 May 2007 11:12:54
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