Sky Sports lands broadcasting deal

Sky Sports will show coverage of all the qualifying and the races for the series for over 45-year-old ex-Formula One drivers this season.

Formula One commentating legend Murray Walker will voice the coverage, as he did for the inaugural event at Kyalami, last November.

The deal has yet to formally be announced, but it will begin with the series' first event of the season in Qatar at the end of this month.

GP Masters increases Sky Sport's motorsport portfolio adding to the heavily promoted IRL IndyCar series and A1 Grand Prix championship.

The deal means, however, that the series will not have any terrestrial television coverage in Britain. The Kyalami event was given delayed coverage on BBC2.

A GP Masters spokesperson told autosport.com: "By the BBC's standards we needed to get our schedule ready in a year and a half in advance to get any kind of coverage, which obviously isn't possible.

"The deal with Sky is a really good one, and they are promoting their motorsport coverage really well."