Reuter
In the slipstream of Singapore’s Formula One success story, the city-state could soon boast a MotoGP race after the contract to build the Republic’s first permanent racing track was awarded.
Southeast Asian motorcycle race fans now hope the likes of multiple world champion Valentino Rossi can be lured to Singapore’s $235 million facility.
SG Changi Private Limited won the contract to build the track and director Eddie Koh outlined the consortium’s plans to bring in top-flight races.
“The completion date is slated for the end of 2011, and we hope to start events in 2012,” he told Singapore media.
“We have the intention to bring in a couple of international races like the GT events, and MotoGP.”
Located on a 41-hectare site near Changi Airport, the facility will feature a 4-km FIM Grade 1 and FIA Grade 2 certified race track, a 20,000-seater sheltered grandstand, karting track, a quarter-mile drag racing track, motor museum and 35,000 square metres of commercial space.
Adjustments have been made to the original plan of a 3.7-km track, to accommodate the FIM’s requirements for MotoGP races, local media reported.
Singapore sports minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan called the project a “landmark in development”, after the Republic’s hosting of the world’s inaugural Formula 1 night race in 2008.
“The Formula 1 race is the crown jewel of Singapore sports, and we view that as step one … we need to go further than that, and that’s why we conceived the idea of building our own motorsports hub,” he told a news conference.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/racing/top-stories/Singapores-first-race-track-aims-to-attract-MotoGP/articleshow/5730711.cms