08/12/2014
NEWS STORY
Already named 'Motorsport Facility of the Year' (!!!), Sochi Autodrom has been announced winner of the 2014 Race Promoters' Trophy by FOM.
According to the official press release: "In its debut operational season, Sochi Autodrom, which has also recently been named 'Motorsport Facility of the Year', hosted a number of important international, national and regional events.
"Besides hosting the Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix, Sochi Autodrom will soon launch its Driving Academy that will contribute to the motorsport development in Krasnodar region and Russia. The programme will include driver education in general with focus on defensive driving, and an aim to install greater safety awareness on Russian roads."
The award, which was announced at the annual FIA Gala ceremony on Friday in Qatar, will be presented on December 19th, during an official visit of FIA and FOM officials to Sochi.
The sceptics among you will not be surprised; even if the typically anodyne nature of the track produced one of the most instantly forgettable races of the year, the event will at least be remembered as the first (in living memory) where drivers assembled before the race for the national anthem - having been ordered not to speak - and the host nation's president was allowed to visit the ante-room to greet the winner before the podium ceremony, despite having missed the first half of the race.
Sochi isn't the first time a race has won the Promoters Trophy in its debut season, though the omens are not god.
India's Buddh International Circuit won the award in 2011 (and again in 2012), only to disappear from the calendar after the third running of the event. Likewise Bahrain won in 2004, Singapore in 2008, Abu Dhabi in 2009 and Korea in 2010. Indeed, as far back as 1994, the AIDA circuit won the award after hosting the Pacific Grand Prix, the Japanese circuit never to be heard of again.
Consequently, those of you with a few bob to spare could do a lot worse than betting on Mexico to win the award in 2015 and Azerbaijan to follow suit in 2016.
In all honesty, it's the total lack of unsubtlety, the lack of any attempt to gloss over the BS that so permeates our sport these days, that truly rankles.