Monday March 20th, 2000

By Michele Lupini, South Africa

Yesterday (Sunday 19 March) saw the Gauloises Africa's Grand Prix at the Phakisa Freeway in Welkom, South Africa. One of the spectators at the event was an unexpected visitor from the East, the boss of a petroleum company with strong links to South Africa and Formula One, who informed Phakisa of his intentions to bring a Formula One GP to the circuit.

As was previously reported in Atlas F1 News, certain of the FIA's European grands prix could be facing problems in meeting both local and EC laws in future, making the possibility of races in the Middle East and Africa a reality since they share Europe's time zones and provide millions of international television viewers their regular Sunday afternoon F1 slot.

With Kyalami set for a South African GP at short notice thanks to sponsorship from local cellular network, Vodacom, Phakisa has the facility and government backing to stage an African Grand Prix, similar to Germany having both a European and German GP.

With additional overseas sponsorship, Phakisa would be ready for a race in no time.

The weekend's Moto GP at the circuit, its second in six months, was another unqualified success, proving that the circuit and the area can easily handle a major event. Should negotiations between its new F1 sponsor, the FIA and the circuit be successful, F1 could well return to Africa sooner than anticipated.