04/04/2007
NEWS STORY
Tucked away in the press release announcing the arrival of Superleague Formula, the brand new series that; "brings together two of the world's most exciting and popular sports: football and motor racing", is the name Robin Webb.
"Superleague Formula is spearheaded by Spanish sports marketing specialist Alex Andreu," it reads, "whose track record includes developing innovative and sophisticated media and communications programmes for the 1992 Olympic Games, World Skiing Championships, FINA and FIFA, and British born Robin Webb, a former financial executive who has many years of hands-on motorsport experience."
This is the same Robin Webb who performed the role of Operations Manager at Premier 1 Grand Prix, the original football-motor sport series which - despite the hype - was stillborn just a few years ago.
Speaking of the Premier 1 Grand Prix concept in 2001, Webb claimed that both Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill had expressed an interest in the new series: "It would be wonderful if both Damon and Nigel raced in the series. I have approached both and also been contacted by about 20 other British drivers."
Referring to the quality of racing we could expect, Webb added: "It will be a true meritocracy with the cream rising to the top," added Webb. "We would be able to tell if David Coulthard is a better driver than Rubens Barrichello."
As it happened, the cream - much like the Premier 1 Grand Prix concept - turned sour. A year after linking Mansell and Hill with the series, Webb explained why the series had yet to turn a wheel:
"Our plans were certainly delayed by the demise of Reynard," he said, referring to the manufacturer originally scheduled to build the car but now bankrupt. "However we took advantage of this pause to carry out some important internal reorganisation.
"This has seen us close down our Swiss office, relocating our operations to the UK, and bringing Alan Gow on-board," he continued. "Having masterminded the British Touring Car Championship to the peak of its enormous success in the 1990s, Alan certainly has the expertise to help make Premier1 the worldwide success it deserves to be."
"Together, we have achieved more in the past few months than was done in the previous two years. But we took the policy of not broadcasting our every move - instead we simply put our heads down and got on with the job of meeting our critical targets. The first of those objectives is to have the soccer clubs contractually committed to the series and, as will be revealed, we are doing this with enormous success.
"This will be a truly international championship with representation from at least 14 countries throughout Europe, South America and Asia. In recent weeks final contracts have been agreed with some of the biggest names in international football and an up-to-date list of these signings will be published in a few weeks. I think quite a few people are in for a big surprise."
"Perhaps some sceptics may have thought that the Premier1 program had faded away. But quite the opposite; we have just been getting on with achieving what we need to do in order to put it all in place. Despite the interruptions we are still very much on track," he concluded... in October 2003.
At the same time, series founder Colin Sullivan confirmed that Premier 1'sx launch date and been revised, with the series scheduled to take off in 2004.