JANUARY 22, 2008

Renault working on South Africa

The Renault F1 team has announced a partnership with the Gauteng Provincial Government in order to promote the area as a sporting region. Gauteng is South Africa's smallest province but has a population of around 9.5m as it includes the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria. this makes it the most populated province in the country. These numbers are expected to increase to 14.6m by the year 2015. Gauteng is home to most of the region™s financial, construction and manufacturing sectors and is trying to build up its tourism . The deal came about as a result of Renault's Roadshow in Sandton, a suburb of Johannesburg, last July and the government hopes that the partnership will increase its international profile and change the perceptions of South Africa, which has had a reputation for violent crime for some time now. As part of the deal there will be a second Roadshow on July 27 this year. This will include a competition to allow the winner to drive a 2007 F1 car.