Stoddart Hopeful for 'Celebs on Sunday' Races

Four Formula One teams have agreed to celebrity two-seater races at Grand Prix weekends with the rest still to decide, Minardi boss Paul Stoddart said on Thursday.

Stoddart, whose team has had 1,352 passengers ride in the two-seaters since April 2000, told Reuters in a telephone interview that none of the F1 teams had turned the idea down so far.

He said two more teams had agreed with reservations and a seventh would participate if all the others did. The remaining two had yet to report back. The Australian businessman proposed the idea last week to give fans more for their money and provide Formula One-style thrills on race mornings when there is nothing otherwise scheduled.

The team bosses agreed last Friday to look at all the details and report back within a week.

Stoddart said the plan, which would see 10 cars lining up in team colours and driven by Formula One reserve drivers in 10 lap races with celebrities in the back, was win-win for all.

"It's hard to find the downside," he said. "You would have celebs on a Sunday when all the world's media and spectators are there.

"I don't think that the programme needs proving," he added. "We (Minardi) have conducted five races since 2000 and the programme has more than demonstrated its success. The pluses are endless really.

"Celebrity anything is very popular at the moment and it wouldn't be too hard to imagine an entire television programme based around this. Imagine what it could do to Friday ticket sales if you had one punter who could win a ride."

Stoddart said that the proposal might not need all the teams' involvement to be given the go-ahead, possibly with five of the teams running two cars each, but he was hoping for unanimity.

"I'm confident that it should go ahead," he said. "No-one else has come up with a better idea."