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Ecclestone denies San Fran GP rumours

Formula 1 impresario Bernie Ecclestone has denied that he is working to establish a second US Grand Prix in San Francisco

The sport has not had a presence on the west coast of the USA since the last Long Beach Grand Prix in 1983 and rumours started when it became known that Ecclestone was scheduled to meet Chris Pook, the former Long Beach promoter and current Champ Car CEO.

"No, definitely not, 100 percent not," said Ecclestone when asked about the possibility of a San Francisco Grand Prix.

More likely is that Ecclestone, who meets Pook tomorrow, will discuss Champ Car issues, maybe including plans for the future of the series, which could include a race in San Francisco.

"I don't know what we are discussing," Ecclestone said. "He asked if he could see me, I said yes, so we'll have to wait and see."

Among leading F1 team principals there is a willingness to see another race in North America.

Frank Williams, who will have Budweiser sponsorship on his cars next year said: "The fact that Budweiser is in F1 will create greater awareness because it is truly a household name all the way across that nation. If their driver, Dale Earnhardt, for instance, drives the car again like Jeff Gordon did (in a PR car swap exercise with Juan Pablo Montoya), it could be one of those little building blocks towards maybe creating a second race."

McLaren boss Ron Dennis added: "The US having two races probably makes more sense than some of those countries that currently have two. A race on the west coast would be great and if we can make F1 more popular in the USA then that would be good."

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