Shanghai Launches Racing Team with Eye on F1

China's booming financial hub of Shanghai is looking to boost its international image with the launch of its own motor racing team, which the city hopes will eventually compete on the high-octane Formula One circuit.

Guangdong-based auto racing team Formula Racing Development on Thursday agreed to move its operations up to Shanghai, with an eye to eventually launching China's first Formula One team.

The team will race as Shangsai FRD, "shangsai" being the Chinese acronym for Shanghai International Circuit.

"China will not only host its own Formula One race, it will eventually have its own F1 racers and team," Yu Zhifei, deputy general manager of Shanghai International Circuit said in a statement. "Shangsai FRD is the first step towards that goal."

Shangsai currently competes in the Asian Formula Renault Challenge and Formula Campus. State media said the team was set up in 1997 with an initial investment of HK$20 million ($2.6 million) but made no mention of the price involved in the move.

Shanghai, China's richest city and bustling financial hub, has begun work on a 5.45-km (3.39 mile) race track and will host a Formula One event in 2004 once it is complete.

China hopes the two billion yuan ($241.7 million) circuit - designed by German racetrack engineer Hermann Tilke, who was also responsible for the acclaimed Sepang track in Malaysia - will attract more attention to the high-speed sport.

City officials are pinning their hopes on the Shanghai Grand Prix which will join a series of high-profile events the country is hosting, with Shanghai holding the World Expo in 2010 and Beijing the 2008 Olympics plus this year's ATP Tennis Masters.

The Shanghai circuit, designed to look like the Chinese character 'shang', meaning 'to rise', is due for completion in March 2004. It will hold 200,000 spectators and include a theme park.

China and Bahrain are due to host races for the first time next year. Japan and Malaysia are the other two Asian countries that are part of the Formula One World Championship circuit.