01/05/2007
NEWS STORY
Despite the threat that Bernie Ecclestone could use GP3 - or whatever - to put his series out of business, A1 GP chairman Tony Teixeira (right) remains confident for the future.
"The critics said it would never happen," he told guest at last night's awards ceremony in London, attended by seven-time world Champion Michael Schumacher.
"At our first race the critics said we would never make the end of season one, and here we are at the end of season two," he continued. "We are looking forward to season three and, you can be assured from me and our seat holders that there will definitely be a season three. And it will be as exciting, if not more exciting, than what we have seen up until now.
"In terms of our finances and our commitments for us to succeed I'm happy to say our shareholders, RAB Capital, have again committed to season three," he revealed. "We have had a lot of investors at our events in the past couple of races. The comments have been that A1GP is wonderful and therefore we are again saying we are financed for season three."
Though he didn't refer to Ecclestone's comments, Teixeira is adamant that A1 GP will grow.
"I'm working to keep my commitment and my promise to the people in this room," he said, "that A1GP World Cup of Motorsport will become a huge, huge event worldwide."
Series organizers have yet to reveal TV viewing figures for the second season, a fact that will not have escaped the notice of A1 GP sceptics, who believe that the series was too quick to sign exclusive TV deals without first establishing a basic fan base. Sky Sports, which was <irony> named as best A1 GP broadcaster </irony> last night, has singularly failed to promote the series properly, as have other sections of Rupert Murdoch's News International.
Furthermore, although the Brands Hatch event last weekend was well attended - despite the woeful, yet traditional, lack of marketing - spectator numbers clearly didn't match those of the 2005 event, which, in addition to being the first ever A1 GP race, and therefore an unknown in the eyes of race fans, also clashed with the all-important Brazilian Grand Prix.