Bulgarian officials will visit next weekend’s German Grand Prix to meet Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone, with a view to securing a Grand Prix in the Eastern European country.
Ecclestone has invited Bogdan Nikolov, the president of the Bulgarian Motorcycling Federation, to the Nurburgring for further discussions on an initial proposal tabled by the BMF at the end of last year.
Nikolov was quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying: “According to the draft, Bulgaria could sign a contract to host a Formula One race between 2011 and 2015 and there’s an option for a contract extension until 2020.“
Bulgaria has never hosted a major international motor race. It has been suggested that the country may be being lined up as a potential replacement for another Eastern European Formula One race, the Hungarian Grand Prix. Recent local reports from Budapest have indicated that the Hungarians are struggling to obtain the necessary finance to stage a Formula One event after 2012. Its current contract is due to run until 2016. Costs for the period are believed to total US$162.8 million. An annual 10 per cent rise in the event’s franchise fee – from US$26.7 million in 2012 to US$39 million in the final year of the contract – is thought to be at the heart of the problem. The Hungarian government is thought to be unwilling to underwrite the costs, despite the annual influx of foreign tourists for the race every August.
The BMF, meanwhile, is spearheading Bulgaria’s move into international motorsport. In February the organisation signed a preliminary agreement with Dorna, commercial rights holder of the MotoGP world championship, to host a round of the motorcycling series from 2012.
Dorna chief executive Carmelo Ezpeleta, who at the time described the project as exciting, said: “The Bulgarian government demonstrated great interest in bringing a Grand Prix here and it will be an important development for us.“ The five-year deal is believed to include an annual franchise fee of US$7 million payable to Dorna. The franchise fees for a Formula One race would likely be quadruple that figure.
However a significant drawback to both the MotoGP and mooted Formula One projects is the current lack of a permanent racetrack in the country. Speaking in March, Nikolov indicated that construction would soon begin at a site near the town of Dolna Mitropoliya in the north of the country.
Source: SportsPro
