Motor sports: Spain may not be able to hold Grand Prix

The parlous state of the economy in Spain has led to the two regions that regularly hold motor sports events to rethink whether they can continue to do so.

In a report in El Pais newspaper, first the Valencian government said that it is rethinking whether it will be able to hold the European Grand Prix. The event has been run on a street circuit in the city since 2008. Money is the big issue as it costs a great deal of money to hold the races. Now Catalonia is looking at whether the regional government can afford to continue to hold motor sports events at the 'Circuit de Catalunya' which has been part of the Formula 1 fixture list since 1991 and where motorcycle Grand Prixs are also regularly held. The Minister for the Economy in the Catalan government, Andreu Mas-Colell,said

We may reconsider holding Formula 1 and motorcycling Grands Prix here. It isn't clear whether we can do so in the current climate

. He went on to say that despite the economic difficulties, there "are contracts that would be more expensive to break than they would be to maintain." Letters have been written to Bernie Ecclestone, head of Formula 1, to discuss possibilities but both regions are tied into contracts and will face large penalty clauses if they try to pull out. InAutoNews website reports that the races scheduled for 2012 will go ahead and tickets are already on sale for the various motor sports events in the two regions. Both regions are under major pressure from the central Madrid government to reduce costs and both have large debts, so motor sports fans in Spain may indeed be disappointed in the future as events are cancelled.

Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5726904685&f=378

beyonce and jay z baby steelers vs broncos barry sanders barry sanders rupaul meet the press chris herren