A difficult future for the Turkish Grand Prix

The Turkish president of the motorsports federation thinks it will be difficult for his country to keep its Grand Prix after the contract ends in 2011.

Mumtaz Tahincioglu, director of TOSFED, believes that the Istanbul Park circuit will face strong competition in the future from a multitude of new countries.

« It will not be easy to reach an agreement, » declared Tahincioglu in the columns of the newspaper Today’s Zaman. « There will be very strong competition like when we started. »

« The current contract will end on January 12, 2012, but it does not provide for a race for the 2011 season. This means that if we want to continue, we must reach an agreement with Mr. Ecclestone. Of course, there are serious candidates, some of whom have committed to a rather costly construction of a circuit. »

Tahincioglu expressed some frustration about the low enthusiasm for the sport in Turkey. He suggested that one of the options for the future of the track would be to host a Grand Prix every two years.

« I worked hard to bring F1 to Turkey and I am very happy to have done it. Even our prime minister would like to keep F1, it’s one of the biggest events to showcase the advantages of Turkey and Istanbul. I would have preferred better circumstances, but most people think of their own interest rather than the interest of the country. »

He added: « We could organize a race every two years, as I recommended for the World Rally Championship. Initially, everyone was against it, and in the end, that’s what they adopted. »