[Mark]

Australian GP set for change

Originally Posted by eurosport.yahoo.com

Australian Grand Prix organisers have proposed changing the starting time of their race next year in the hope of saving it from being scrapped.


Formula one supremo Bernie Ecclestone has threatened to ditch the Australian round from the calendar unless organisers agree to stage the race at night to fit in with European television audiences.

Australian organisers have ruled out holding the race at night because of logistical and financial reasons, but have offered a compromise.

Organisers have already pushed back the start of Sunday's season-opening race from 14:00 local time (03:00 GMT) to 15:30 (04:30 GMT) and are willing to delay it even further in 2009.

Australian Grand Prix Corporation chairman Ron Walker said if international television audience figures from this weekend's race showed an improvement, next year's race could be run as a twilight event starting from 517:00 (06:00 GMT).

"Let's clear the air and say that compromise is the art of good business, and we have made a huge compromise in terms of what Mr Ecclestone wants," Walker said.

"I believe we've gone a long way to appeasing Mr Ecclestone's aims to increase the TV audiences worldwide and I believe we will achieve that by the 17:00 start."

Ecclestone, 77, told Britain's Mail on Sunday that the race appeared doomed unless it was moved to a friendlier time zone.

"The only way the race could stay in Melbourne, or anywhere else in Australia, is if it is staged during the night so that the public in Europe can watch it," he said.

Melbourne has hosted the Australian Grand Prix since 1996, when it moved from Adelaide, and has a contract to 2010. The race has become the established opening event but has suffered financial losses.

Ecclestone has no shortage of candidates to take Australia's place, with Abu Dhabi coming in next year as a second Middle East race and India and South Korea lined up for grands prix in 2010.

There has also been talk of Russia having a grand prix while many sponsors and manufacturers want a US race to be reinstated on the calendar after the disappearance of Indianapolis this season.

eurosport.yahoo.com | F1 | Article Here!




I'll be great to delay it a little bit, we all from Europe will be able to watch it at a normal or kinda normal hour than now.


But i also heard that it's in discussion to move it to nocturne like the Malaysian GP, and now i'm asking myself, why Ecclestone "from a time" wants nocturnal races ?!