FEBRUARY 1, 2003

Diniz tries to create street race in Rio

Pedro Diniz has been working away in recent years as promoter of Formula Renault in Brazil and is now in the process of trying to convince the city of Rio de Janeiro to let him run a street race in the city. The former Ligier, Arrows and Sauber drive wants to run the race in the Aterro do Flamengo part of the city which features wide avenues and is already closed to traffic on Sundays.

Rio de Janeiro hosted the Brazilian Grand Prix in 1978, and then from 1981 to 1989, when Formula 1 moved to Sao Paulo. CART also raced at the Rio autodromo between 1996 and 2000 but today the old circuit, now named after Nelson Piquet is only host to the Moto GP series.