Master of the Masters

After Grand Prix Masters' inaugural event at Kyalami in November last year, series founder Scott Poulter looked as though he had won the world's largest-ever jackpot with a 5p piece. The former world-class wind surfer had pulled together some of the sport's greatest exponents, and packaged a seriously successful race which played to a capacity crowd (70,000 on race day) and reached 80 million households. In fact, 'successful' was way too small a word for the Altech Grand Masters of South Africa, as the event was dubbed.

Last weekend's Qtel Grand Prix Masters of Qatar was a complete contrast - where Kyalami's race was held on a historic, undulating circuit situated at 6,000 feet and played to a heaving, partying full-house crowd, just a handful of restrained spectators attended the second race, held as the sea-level track's first-ever four-wheeled competition - yet Poulter had every reason to be as pleased in the sandy Middle East as he had been in tropical Africa.

True, there had been glitches, such as 40% of the 24-lap race being run behind a safety car and Riccardo Patrese's car stalling on the grid, and then needing to be pushed to the pits for restarting. But, to the entrepreneurial Poulter, the former was extremely encouraging, having been mainly instigated by the very ingredient many feared would not be present: wheel-to-wheel racing.

"I think we seen a phenomenal improvement in the drivers' fitness from when they were in Kyalami, and I think they've spent a lot of time working at it," he told autosport.com on Saturday evening.

"We've seen a step up in terms of competitiveness and seriousness, which was illustrated by the amount of incidents we saw on the circuit today. That created a good part of the race where we were under safety car, which I think was disappointing, but coming here to Losail we have also seen the first time they have hosted a car race, so I think it has given us a lot of lessons and a lot to take away and build from."

The words 'learnt' and 'lessons' feature strongly in Poulter's GPM vocabulary, and it is clear that he, who freely admits to being a sports marketer and not a petrol head-become-promoter, is on as steep a curve as GPM's operational, marketing and technical staff, be they permanent or contractual employees. And, in his open-minded approach to learning, and thereby not apportioning immediate blame, lies possibly Poulter's greatest strengths.

Scott Poulter of GP Masters © LAT

"I think until we get to the final analysis with race control, it would probably be too premature for me to apportion any specific blame about the amount of time it took under the safety car," he says about the clearly circuit-specific situation whereby a JCB traveled what seemed like halfway around the track merely to gain access through the barriers, and marshals ambled to cars rather than ran. The latter, though, could have been driven by the heat of the day, peaking at 48 degrees Celsius.

"I think it will suit all parties if we were here earlier in the year, when the temperature and climate has been much more conducive, but overall I think we are very happy. I think that Qatar, the circuit, is very pleased with its first car race, which it is, and we are very proud to have been here for it. We'd love to come back to Qatar."

Indeed, subsequent to this interview, Poulter has told autosport.com that the Qatari Prime Minister and the Qatar Motor & Motorcycle Federation have proposed a "three- to five-year extension", which should be signed early next week.

The lack of crowds, too, is a worry, although given Qatar's total population of only 800,000, Kyalami's figure - equating to 10% of the desert state's total inhabitants - will never be under threat. That the Qataris, somewhat inexplicably, hosted a Formula One power boat race on the same day at exactly the same time (in a harbour bowl less than five kilometers from the QMMF's state-of-the art Losail facility) did not help Poulter's cause, either.

"Of course," he agrees without hesitation when it is put to him that conflicts with other sporting events should be contractually prevented, before providing both sides to the crowd attendance worry.

"I think most people recognize that motorsport in the Middle East is in its infancy, that crowds even in Formula One are not as great as they are in other parts of the world," he says, "so I mean we've got to build it here.

"You know, we signed here very late, so as a consequence it needs some educational work in terms of developing our marketing locally, that's an effort we need to put in. Bringing the drivers earlier, bringing some promotions (to host countries) will, you know, let us build some ground slots."

That the event was extremely well organized was clear from the moment media, guests and fans arrived at Doha International Airport, and the entire weekend went without a hitch.

"I think as far as the freight and logistics, we are very well accommodated," he contends. "We are much more effective and efficient in the way we are actually operating now, but I think we can be more effective and a lot more efficient still, so we will work towards that. We need to invest a bit of time and effort in commercial and marketing activities and turn them into a much stronger platform."

At Kyalami, he projected five or six races in 2006: Middle East (which mutated into Qatar), two in Europe, one in the East, South Africa and, possibly, North America. Since then a calendar of sorts was published, but, with GPM not (yet?) being a championship, race slots are pretty elastic. A blow, though, has been Monza's increasingly litigious situation, for a race at the historic venue was listed for June 18th. This is now unlikely to happen, and the series is seeking an alternative venue in Europe.

"We're leaving here tomorrow (Sunday), and thereafter the first thing on the agenda is to clarify the situation. [Monza chief Enrico] Ferrari is being phenomenally supportive of us, and we would love to be in Monza, but I don't think it is going to be possible, but later this week we'll have confirmation of that." In fact, confirmation either way is now expected at the end of this week.

A substitute race that weekend will not be possible, according to Poulter. "It will be too short a notice, unfortunately, for us to be able respond like that, but we'll look to come somewhere else in Europe later in the year, and probably add another event."

Spa-Francorchamps' Eau Rouge © LAT

Over the weekend, rumours suggested either of Belgium's graded circuits, Zolder or Spa-Francorchamps, as possible hosts, although a call to the former facility made earlier in the week by a media colleague established that the one-time Formula One Grand Prix venue had a crowded 2006 calendar, mainly through the non-racing activities it is now concentrating upon. Spa, then?

"Spa obviously is pretty well speculated at the moment," Poulter admits, "and we're in discussions. We'd love to go to Spa, the drivers are incredibly optimistic and hopeful that we'll go there, and Emerson [Fittipaldi] has obviously never raced at Spa, so it's something he has been dreaming about, too."

South Africa's deal is done, but the dusting will happen only after the promoter - who stages the event on behalf of locally listed technology giant Altech, with proceeds going to two of the country's major charities - decides whether to run with Durban's street track (the use of which the local council is attempting to maximize after losing heavily on the A1 race), or to return to Kyalami, which (again) appears to be heading for new ownership.

"Kyalami at the present moment is where we are contracted to go, however the promoter is looking at the potential to take us to Durban," is Poulter's unexpanded party line.

Malaysia, on October 15th this year, seems a certainty, although Poulter concedes that some loose ends remain before Sepang's race can be confirmed. "I think we're close, there are some commercial issues that we need to get locked away, although none of these appear to be too far away from us. We just need to make certain that we can clear those out so that we can be there," he says.

Which brings us neatly to the balance of races: Silverstone, which promises, nay, threatens to be a total sellout, given the Nigel Mansell 'Red Five' factor; and a North American event, still very much in its embryonic stages.

The race at Silverstone on August 13th is, in fact, mainly responsible for GPM's rather surprising decision to switch from BBC1 to Sky Sports. The UK's public broadcaster is committed in terms of its charter to broadcast the European Athletics Championships on that date - a date, Poulter says, that was the only option open to him at the circuit which has seen Britain's homegrown hero, winner of both GPM races held to date, score arguably his greatest, and unquestionably his most emotional victories.

Poulter is adamant that the switch from terrestrial to satellite won't hurt the series. "We looked at the terrestrial options open to us, we started late in the season in a big sporting year - the (soccer) World Cup, the Commonwealth Games and others - and we decided it would probably be better for us to get the time allotment we required to work with a partner such as Sky," he says.

"Sky have been phenomenal in terms of what they've done in the production and the amount of time and promotion they're dedicating to the series. We see that they're trying to build their own motorsports portfolio, and we're very, very pleased to be part of that."

Kevin Kalkhoven © LAT

Good news on the Silverstone front, though, is that the field should see further expansion. At Kyalami, 14 drivers took the start; on Saturday, in Losail, the entry list totaled 15. For the British round, Silverstone's garages should contain 18 cars, two of which will be held in reserve, according to Poulter. And, such is the interest in GPM, that no problems are expected in filling the seats with sufficiently qualified pilots - aged 45 and above, and with two seasons of world championship racing on their resume - with Alain Prost remaining a prime contender.

A surprise visitor to Qatar was Kevin Kalkhoven, and the bearded American was open in his admiration for the series. While he admitted to an interest in promoting a GPM race in North America, the Cosworth boss and Champ Car co-owner was reticent to go into details. Poulter, though, readily conceded that discussions had revolved around three possible venues ("Toronto, Long Beach or Vegas"), although he refused to speculate upon their order on Kalkhoven's wish-list.

"I would not like to speculate which one is his preferred option, because I'll leave that with him, although I'd agreed that we would go across (to the United States) next month and continue our discussions," was all the 37-year-old, Hampshire-based sports marketer would state on the record.

Despite a scare driven by outside factors immediately after the South African race, the series is, says Poulter, on a firm financial footing, with one or two series sponsors in the wings. "They're looking at multi-year deals and so can come in at mid-season," he says.

He did, though, admit, that GPM "had to quite recently raise some cash to underpin our operation," although this was mainly due to said scare, and not as a result of inherent shortcomings in the series' business model. The fact that cash was made available, in fact, speaks volumes for the model, for this start-up championship has no wealthy benefactors save for the half-a-dozen hard-nosed, high net worth individuals who provided seed capital.

During previous meetings with or two of them, they made no secret of the fact that their initial funding of the series was a business investment and little more. Thus, were any financial cracks apparent, cash to underpin the series would hardly have been forthcoming.

There is a general belief in GPM circles that ultimately the series needs to grow into a structured championship, and while Poulter last year appeared to be against any championship aspirations on the basis that it would be difficult to persuade drivers - all of whom have lives outside of racing in a masters series - to commit to a full season, in Qatar he seemed extremely receptive to the concept, albeit for the future.

"I think we'll look at becoming a championship, but I think it would be premature for us to do it this year, but we'll take overall feedback from the drivers and all the stakeholders, and see which way we want to go."

Ditto suggestions made at Losail that events should be made up by two heats of 45 minutes each, for GPM could thus double their 'show' for little more than 10% additional cost. "Yes, coming away from here we could look at it, look at extending the race or be looking at additional heats," he said.

That GPM is here to stay is evident from the enthusiasm for the concept, for here is a series that is underpinned, to borrow Poulter's phrase, by a healthy business model coupled with evocative memories of Formula One's 'good ol' days'. It was a pretty hard slog to get to Kyalami - and it is all too easy to forget that this brand new concept, using custom-designed hardware, had a shorter gestation time than A1 Grand Prix did - and an even harder (and hotter) slog to get to Qatar, for the country had absolutely zero experience in four-wheeled racing, having hosted just MotoGP and SBK Superbikes.

Nigel Mansell at Silverstone testing in 2005 © LAT

The learning curve has been steeper than even Poulter, Race Director and consultant Bob Berridge and the drivers ever believed, but, all credit to them: they have, individually and collectively, been willing pupils. Yes, Qatar was let down by circuit-specific organizational glitches, but, given the speed with which GPM has reacted in the past, these will surely remain one-offs.

GPM's real test, though, will come at Silverstone. South Africans are absolutely starved of top line international motorsport and voted with their wallets the moment rumours started that Poulter was bringing his show to Johannesburg, while Qatar was never expected to be a sellout.

Britons, though, have motorsport of some sort or other dished up every weekend, and Silverstone is a large place to fill. Sure, the value of Red Five is incalculable, but, still, for the GPM to remain sustainable, its concept, and not 'Our Nige', has to capture the imagination.

Based on the evidence after two completely contrasting races to date, there is little to suggest that this won't happen. But, if for some unfathomable reason it does, Scott Poulter will have learned another lesson - one he and his team will surely react quickly to with their proven speed.