Stéphane Clair very optimistic for a French Grand Prix in 2013
The French Grand Prix Formula 1 file is resurfacing and seems to be on the right track. According to Stéphane Clair, director of the Circuit Paul Ricard, the project is about to be finalized to take a place in the 2013 calendar.
Stéphane Clair, director of the Circuit Paul Ricard, gave an interview to the newspaper Le Figaro, in which he estimates the probability of seeing a French Grand Prix on the Castellet track in 2013 at 90%.
After the presentation of the proposals by the Circuit Paul Ricard and the Magny-Cours circuit, the FFSA (French Federation of Automobile Sport) and the Minister of Sports, Valérie Fourneyron, stated that the State did not wish to intervene financially in the organization of a Formula 1 Grand Prix on French soil.
It seems that only the Circuit Paul Ricard is still capable of proposing a viable project because Stéphane Clair’s team, the circuit’s director, had been working for several months on financing without state aid: “We did not need the state in our initial project. The government’s announcement mainly contributed to worrying the F1 world, which questioned the project’s reliability without state support,” he confides to the newspaper Le Figaro.
He adds regarding the Magny-Cours application: « I have no news about the Magny-Cours application. We are working solo, and we must not be hindered so that this can succeed. We have never been so close to finding a functioning system and a date. »
Indeed, a date has just become available with the announcement of the withdrawal of the New Jersey Grand Prix from the 2013 calendar. This is an opportunity that Stéphane Clair wishes to seize to successfully carry out his project: If we look at the calendar, we notice that the Belgian Grand Prix has been moved forward by a week. This would free up a slot on the first weekend of September before the Italian Grand Prix. Stringing together Belgium-France-Italy would be coherent. Replacing the New Jersey Grand Prix constitutes another possibility.
A decision will be made very quickly as confirmed by Stéphane Clair: « Everything must be finalized by the end of November to give us time to carry out a legal arrangement. On January 1st, ticket sales must be launched. We will also need three months to modify the circuit, but the construction work is not too heavy. »
