British GP Set for Date Change

Organisers of next year's British Grand Prix have revealed they are confident the event will switch dates to avoid clashes with the Euro 2004 football and Wimbledon tennis finals.

The race was due to take place on July 4 but, as revealed last month by Atlas F1, organisers pushed for a date change when the French Grand Prix was provisionally dropped from the calendar.

The date will not be confirmed until the World Motorsport Council meeting in Paris on December 12 but tickets went on sale yesterday with a stated provisional date of July 11.

The organisers also confirmed major price reductions for 2004 and Silverstone MD Andrew Waller said: "We made it clear at this year's British Grand Prix that we would review pricing for 2004 and we've honoured this commitment."

The race-day ticket price has been reduced from £115 (Pounds) to £90 (Pounds) after introducing new categories of Gold, Silver and Bronze for the admission tickets.

Silverstone came under fire last year for increased ticket prices after completing major development work on the circuit to ensure it retained its Grand Prix status.

The circuit organisers are now under pressure to run a problem-free event to avoid any further criticism as race bids from rival countries continue to flow in to commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone.

The Chinese and Bahrain Grands Prix are both scheduled to make their debuts on the calendar next season with Turkey lined up for 2005 and India one of several venues that have agreed provisional deals with Ecclestone for the future.