08/11/2016
NEWS STORY
Imola has dropped its legal challenge to Monza hosting the Italian GP with government backing.
Organisers at Imola, which previously hosted the San Marino Grand Prix, launched a legal challenge in July, despite securing an agreement to host the Italian Grand Prix from 2017 after Bernie Ecclestone grew tired of the Autodromo Nazionale's politics and dithering.
For while Imola had a agreement for the event, the Automobile Club d'Italia (ACI), which organises the Grand Prix, said that not only would it not provide funding for the Imola event - though it does for Monza - it would not recognise the race should it move from the Lombardy circuit.
Indeed, the funding for Monza was granted by the Government through the "Legge di stabilita" which implies that it was not for Imola.
Convinced that the ACI was intent only on assisting Monza, organisers at Imola launched an appeal against the ACI to the Lazio Regional Administrative Court citing the organisation as not providing the support to allow the circuit to host the event.
Indeed, Imola organisers claimed that it was illegal for the ACI to award government funding to Monza and not Imola.
Over the weekend of the Italian Grand Prix in September, there were smiles for the camera as a new deal with Monza was announced at a press conference attended by Jean Todt, ACI president Angelo Sticchi Damiani, Bernie Ecclestone, Marco Coldani VP of the ACI Milan and Flavio Briatore.
However, weeks later there was still no sign of a contract. Despite claims that the delay was merely due to "jurisdictional" reasons that required it be finalized in the UK, the fact is that a contract is not effective until the parties involved have actually signed it.
While Imola has now withdrawn its action - the pay-off understood to include a number of high profile events to be hosted at the classic track - claims that this leads the way open to Monza are somewhat misleading because by all accounts the hold-up in not in Italy but in the UK.