BULGARIA TO BUILD FORMULA 1, MOTO GP TRACK NEAR CAPITAL SOFIA

Bulgaria is going to build a track for Formula 1 and Moto GP races near the capital Sofia.

This has been announced by Member of Parliament from the Bulgarian Socialist Party (and former Interior Minister (2005-2008), Rumen Petkov, who is also the chair of the Organizational Committee for the Bulgarian Grand Prix in motorcycling.

"We have signed a contract for the Moto GP race, and we also have reached an agreement on a Formula 1 race coming to Bulgaria. We hope that everything will go well, and that we will be able to combine the tracks for the two races in one," Petkov is quoted as saying by the Trud Daily.

In his words, the Formula 1 and Moto GP track will be constructed on the place of the former military air base at Dobroslavtsi, Novi Iskar Municipality, about 12 km north of Sofia.

Bulgaria's preliminary contract with Moto GP says that the tract must be completed by the end of January 2011; the negotiations with Formula 1 have been for hosting a race in the fall of 2011 or 2012.

Petkov believes that Sofia's proximity to several other large Balkan cities - Athens, Belgrade, Bucharest, Thessaloniki - would be sufficient to attract the necessary audience for the Formula 1 and Moto GP races.