New contract for Turkish GP will be difficult
According to Istanbul Park's General Director Can Güçlü, the Formula One teams might travel to Istanbul for the last time in 2011. The organisers of the Turkish Grand Prix have a contract with Bernie Ecclestone until the end of 2011, but an extension of the contract will be very difficult.
Güçlü declared to newspaper 'Zaman': "We are afraid that 2011 may be the last year of the staging of F1 in Istanbul. There is serious competition from such countries as South Africa, Russia, Bulgaria and South Korea. South Korea has a highly developed economy and they place importance on sporting events. The football world cup was held in there in 2002. And Russia has already started constructing a race course.
"If we want the Turkish Grand Prix to stay on the calendar, we need to start working immediately. Or else, we cannot just begin negotiating for the race in the last year of the contract."
