http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/15022010/23/ezpeleta-frustrated-singapore-race-plans.html
Ezpeleta frustrated by Singapore race plans
Mon, 15 Feb 10:40:14 2010
The prospect of Singapore being included on the 2011 MotoGP calendar is looking increasingly unlikely after Carmelo Ezpeleta revealed plans for a race have made little progress from a preliminary agreement made more than a year ago.
Plans for a race to be held in the Asian country were proposed in November 2008 following the success of the inaugural Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix night race, with a deal made to bring MotoGP to a new permanent circuit in Changi.
However, a delay in the project, prompted by the Singapore Sports Council in their attempts to increase the area of land set aside for the circuit, means building work is yet to start on the ‘Changi Motorsports Hub’.
The SSC is expected to announce which of three consortiums currently bidding to build, finance and manage the circuit it has chosen by the end of March.
As such, Dorna boss Ezpeleta is uncertain over whether a race will take place in Singapore in the near future, even if he adds it is a market he is eager to tap.
"Please, don't talk anymore about Singapore," he told Singapore’s MediaCorp. "For two years, I have been hearing about the Changi permanent track, but till now I don't know who is going to build it or when it will be ready.
"It is not the moment to talk about a race there, at night or not. Singapore is one of the countries we want to have a race, but today it is without a circuit and without a circuit we cannot have one."
Despite being considered a burgeoning market, the Far East currently only hosts two MotoGP races in Malaysia and Japan – a race in China was dropped at the end of the 2008 season.
Ezpeleta frustrated by Singapore race plans
Mon, 15 Feb 10:40:14 2010
The prospect of Singapore being included on the 2011 MotoGP calendar is looking increasingly unlikely after Carmelo Ezpeleta revealed plans for a race have made little progress from a preliminary agreement made more than a year ago.
Plans for a race to be held in the Asian country were proposed in November 2008 following the success of the inaugural Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix night race, with a deal made to bring MotoGP to a new permanent circuit in Changi.
However, a delay in the project, prompted by the Singapore Sports Council in their attempts to increase the area of land set aside for the circuit, means building work is yet to start on the ‘Changi Motorsports Hub’.
The SSC is expected to announce which of three consortiums currently bidding to build, finance and manage the circuit it has chosen by the end of March.
As such, Dorna boss Ezpeleta is uncertain over whether a race will take place in Singapore in the near future, even if he adds it is a market he is eager to tap.
"Please, don't talk anymore about Singapore," he told Singapore’s MediaCorp. "For two years, I have been hearing about the Changi permanent track, but till now I don't know who is going to build it or when it will be ready.
"It is not the moment to talk about a race there, at night or not. Singapore is one of the countries we want to have a race, but today it is without a circuit and without a circuit we cannot have one."
Despite being considered a burgeoning market, the Far East currently only hosts two MotoGP races in Malaysia and Japan – a race in China was dropped at the end of the 2008 season.
