Carmakers Still to Decide Series Name

The five car makers planning the series, BMW, Renault, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and Honda, met with nine teams on Thursday to discuss their future plans and get a gauge on how much progress had been made in formulating future regulations.

One of the topics under discussion, as reported last month by Autosport-Atlas, is a new name for the championship, because the newly recruited Honda and Toyota companies have made it clear that they do not wish to be part of the old 'GPWC' plans and instead want to play a role in something completely new.

After the manufacturers issued a statement explaining the outcome of the meeting on Thursday night, some reports suggested that the name 'Grand Prix Racing' had been agreed upon because it was mentioned specifically several times in the press release.

BMW's Burkahrd Goeschel was quoted as saying: "We look forward to contributing to a constructive dialogue about the future of Grand Prix Racing in due course, but first, we need to complete the process that we have underway."

However, although Autosport-Atlas understands that the name GPR (for 'Grand Prix Racing') is still the favoured option to replace the previous 'GPWC' name, a final decision has not been taken yet.

A spokesman for the manufacturers said: "Nothing has been decided yet. We are still working on it."