NOVEMBER 19, 2008

Disneyland pulls out of French GP race

The company Lagardere Sports and Disneyland Paris have abandoned their project to hold the French Grand Prix, saying that the event is not economically viable. The plan was for a race in 2010 but it seems that the local government was not willing to come up with the funding because of fears that the local population would object to the event. This means that there is not going to be a French Grand Prix in either 2009 or 2010.

The project was headed by former world champion Alain Prost and was one of the six that were in competition for the event. The deal was for Lagardere to come up with around $80m in finance with Disney providing the land.

The latest rumours suggest that the project that will now become the favourite is the one in departement of the Yvelines, to the west of Paris, in the valley of the River Seine, at Flins. This is understood to have the support of French Prime Minister Francois Fillon.