Bahrain Facing Race Against Time

The organiser of next year's Bahrain Grand Prix has said that his team faces a race against time to get the circuit ready after being handed a provisional April race date.

Formula One commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone has promised the country a place on the calendar but shocked Hans Geist, who runs the organising company Grand Prix Management GmbH, by handing them an early date.

"There is no fixed calendar but there are some ideas to put it as the third race after Australia and Malaysia," said Geist, who will take over operations in Bahrain in October.

"To be responsible for this race it is a very tough schedule because we had expected the date for Autumn 2004 and we are still under construction. There is a lot of work to do there and it was not the best news."

The race had previously been in doubt after a committee of Bahrain's MPs turned down a request to fund $200 million (USD) of the $500 million (USD) project but that scare was averted when the government backed the scheme.

The committee's chairman had been reported as saying that Formula One would "fly in the face of Islamic values" and bring prostitutes to the kingdom but the development was allowed to continue.

The race will become the first Middle East Grand Prix in the history of the championship and the chairman of the Bahrain Racing Circuit Company, HE Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, is confident it will be a success.

"We look forward to welcoming international race fans to the Bahrain Grand Prix next year and we are very encouraged by the support and enthusiasm both the circuit project and the Bahrain Grand Prix have received," he said.

The track, designed by German Hermann Tilke and built on a 170-hectare site in the desert, is due for completion on March 7, 2004, having taken just 485 days to construct but development is already ahead of schedule.