Grapevine: South Africa to Bid for Grand Prix Return

Flush from securing the 2010 soccer World Cup, South Africa plans to bid to join the Formula One Grand Prix circuit from 2007, the bidding consortium said on Saturday.

"Our consortium hopes to submit a bid for the 2007-2014 Grand Prix series to be hosted by South Africa," said David Gant of Parallel Media South Africa, a member of the consortium.

He said Formula One officials had approved a site near Cape Town's international airport for a new racing track.

"Preliminary discussions have been held with potential stakeholders including major South African and international companies. There is clearly a lot of interest, but the private sector wants to see Government buy in," Gant said in a statement.

Besides Gant, the consortium includes Denis Worrall of Omega Investment Research, Sello Rasethaba of The OrlyFunt Consortium and BKS Consulting Engineers.

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone had welcomed South African interest in hosting races, the consortium said, pointing out that leading drivers Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button had visited South Africa in recent months.

Gant said the consortium met with former Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour in March to discuss government participation in the bid.

"Following the initial indications of support from Minister Balfour and meetings with the Department of Sport, the matter has now been referred to the Minister of Trade and Industry. We have made submissions to him and await a response," he said.

The consortium said recent newcomers to the Grand Prix calendar, Malaysia, Bahrain and China had all enjoyed a substantial boost to their economies.

"With more than 4 billion TV viewers and an estimated 25,000 overseas visitors at the event itself, it goes without saying that the socio-economic and global marketing benefits for our country will be immense," Omega's Worrall said.

"We estimate the direct annual economic impact on our economy to be over 1 billion rand ($159.8 million) per year."