JANUARY 25, 2005

A1 Grand Prix budges start date

The A1 Grand Prix series has decided to shift its starting date from September 18 to September 25. This appears to be have been caused by the fact that the original date clashed with a round of the British Touring Car Championship and its associated races at Silverstone. The BTCC can draw up to 40,000 and the crowds increased last year by around 20%. This was obviously going to cut into the potential crowd for the A1 Grand Prix series and it seems that the organisers have decided to move the race back a week to avoid the clash.

"Many of the fans had already purchased tickets for other events on that date, so were disappointed they were not going to be able to attend our event," said Sheikh Maktoum, the man behind A1. "We have now made it possible for them to be with us at Brands Hatch."

The new date will clash with the Brazilian Grand Prix and with the GP2 race scheduled for Bahrain.