A1GP bankrupts another race promoter

The Beijing round of the A1GP series, one of two in China, will be dropped for next season because the promoters cannot afford to cover the "huge" losses, the Shanghai Daily reported on Friday.

The Chinese capital made its debut in the second season of the "World Cup of Motorsport" last November but the $2.6M cost of putting on the race as well as the Shanghai round has proved too great for the promoters, Haiyi.

"We have worked our socks off to get everything right for both rounds over the past few months," said Guan Yunke, Haiyi's deputy general manager.

"But the financial burden to stage two races in a year is overwhelming with huge losses. Therefore we decided to drop the Beijing leg next season."

[Editor's Note: The attendance was miniscule, hence the huge losses. And the track was so bad that when the cars went out on their first warm-up lap none of them could make it past the tight chicane as the turning radius of the cars was too large for the poorly designed track so the remainder of the day was cancelled. This weekend's A1GP race in Mexico City will be yet another huge financial loss for the race promoters.]