Greater Noida to stage Formula One race

Nov 17: India’s JP Associates signs a 10-year contract striking a deal of Rs 1500 crore with Formula One bosses

It’s finally official that the Formula one Grand Prix in 2010 will be staged in the Greater Noida of the Delhi’s National capital region, as the finalised venue got past its closest rival Sohna village of Haryana. The track has been finalised after architect Hermann Tilke visited the proposed sites and submitted a report to Ecclestone.

According to the Formula1 official website, Chief Executive Bernie Ecclestone had signed the accord with JPSK Sports Private Ltd., a unit of Jaiprakash Associates, and struck a Rs 1500 crore deal to construct the race track in Greater Noida.

Chairman of JP Associates Manoj Gaur confirmed that F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone had signed a 10-year contract with the company to build the track in Greater Noida and express confidence that formula one would grow in the coming years.

" India is growing at the rate of 10 percent. Accordingly, leisure and sports interests are bound to grow. We are very excited and fortunate that we would cater to the interest through this unique opportunity," Gaur said.

The capital-based Jaiprakash Associates gets 45 percent of its annual revenue of 37.9 billion rupees ($963.9 million) from building dams, 53 percent from selling cement and the rest from its four hotels, a golf course and the construction of homes.

The agreement, which will track more than four years of negotiations with various organisations, “will spark an explosion of further interest'' in the motor-racing series in India, Ecclestone told Formula1.com, which said the Grand Prix will be in the New Delhi region.

Ecclestone, 77, is seeking to boost the popularity of Formula One in Asia and increase annual sales of about $1 billion. He added races in Bahrain and China three years ago and another in Singapore will join the calendar next season.

Narain Karthikeyan became the first Indian driver in the formula one in 2005 creating a mass attraction for the sport in the country, when he joined Jordan, and the latest in the news is rookie driver Karun Chandhok,who also made his debut at F1 test for Red Bull Racing.

A new team, Force India, was formed last month after billionaire Vijay Mallya bought the Spyker team for $109 million and it will compete next year.