Valencia has reached an agreement to host a grand prix from 2008 on a circuit around the Spanish city's new America's Cup port, Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone announced on Thursday. Ecclestone said that the seven-year agreement with the Valencia regional government was conditional, however, on the present president Francisco Camps of the centre-right Partido Popular winning local elections to be held later this month.
"The contract will not be signed until after the election, but I'm convinced it will happen," Ecclestone told a news conference.
"This will be an urban circuit rather than a street circuit and even better than some of the ones that are already on the calendar." The race, to be called the European Grand Prix, is scheduled for late in the season on a newly designed circuit of between 4.1 and 4.3 km in length reminiscent of Monaco's with its harbour-side location. Valencia's deal to host this year's America's Cup yacht race has revitalised the city's port area and brought considerable investment and development. A grand prix is se2007-11-15en as an ideal way to maintain the Valencia's profile after the yacht event this summer, and for F1 to capitalise on the 'Alonso effect' in Spain.
Asked for his thoughts on the announcement at Thursday's Spanish GP press conference, Alonso said: "Now we have two grands prix in Spain and for me it will be okay and it will be nice to see how it develops in Spain the last four or five years as before we didn't even have television coverage four years ago and now we are going to have two Grands Prix in the country, so it is very special.
"So I am happy for the motor sport in Spain but for us it is not a big change to take the plane to Valencia or take the plane to Italy..." The Valencia circuit will be the first new street venue to join the F1 calendar since the short-lived Phoenix track that hosted the US GP from 1989 to 1991.
The circuit will be designed by German Hermann Tilke, architect of the sport's most modern tracks.
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