Turkey GP Deal '95% Certain'

Organisers of a planned Grand Prix of Turkey have claimed they are close to a deal with Formula One commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone to host a round of the World Championship in 2005.

Work is due to begin on a brand new £40 million track near Istanbul airport within the next two months and talks with Ecclestone have now reached a crucial stage. The country's motorsport federation president Mumtaz Tahincioglu said that he is "95 percent" of the way to a successful conclusion and claimed the government have given their full support to the project.

"We have the land fixed, the project designed and the proposals drafted," said Tahincioglu. "We have been through the whole thing with the government and we have the proposition in place."

Bahrain and China are both aiming to complete their new circuits by the early part of next year but both have already secured their place on the 2004 Formula One calendar.

Turkey's plans have been in the pipeline for some time but Tahincioglu is confident they will succeed and told Autosport: "There's still a lot to do, but we want to run our first race in 2005."