Ecclestone: Imola to Stage Last GP this Year

San Marino will stage its last Formula One race at Imola this year, Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone revealed.

"Imola is at its last edition: from 2005 it'll be out of the calendar. So Italy will have only one race," Ecclestone told Italy's sports newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport in an interview published today, stating that more and more European races will make way for new venues in new markets.

"From next year Turkey will be on the calendar," He continued. "With Korea there's already an agreement starting from 2009. But before then we'll have a World Championship race in India. The only problem with several races in Asia is the time difference for live TV in Europe. But from 2004 we predict the number of Chinese spectators will already be the same as the entire European audience.

"Germany will carry on with two: just last Wednesday we've reached a new agreement for the Nurburgring. After all, the presence of the German industry in F1 is still very important.

"I can't see a future for Silverstone either, as it's like an old house which allows itself only some touching up: an access road, a parking lot. Big deal! It needs serious reconstruction, but the current owners are not willing to finance it."

Ecclestone owns the commerical rights to Formula One and is in charge of setting the annual Grand Prix calendar. This year Bahrain and China will host their first Grand Prix, while Austria has been removed from the calendar, and the season will have the most number of races in one season - 18. But Ecclestone says that too could increase in the future.

"We could easily get to 20," he said. "One only needs to reduce private testing from 40 to 30 days, and then there's room for two more races."