Hockenheim gets a boost

Track owners hold meeting with Ecclestone

Last updated: 2nd July 2009

Boost: The 2008 German Grand Prix at Hockenheim

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Hopes that Hockenheim can continue to host the German Grand Prix have been raised after track managers met with Bernie Ecclestone.

The meeting with Formula One's commercial rights controller came one week after it was announced that the circuit, which now co-hosts the grand prix with the Nurburgring, had lost local government backing.

"The situation needs to be sorted out soon," Karl-Josef Schmidt, financial CEO of Hockenheim-Ring GmbH, the company that runs the circuit, told the German Press Agency dpa.

Schmidt, who hopes to renegotiate a cheaper deal to host the 2010 race, said that a decision on the circuit's future could be reached by the end of the month.

He added that there was "a noticeable will on the part of Mr Ecclestone to keep Formula One at the Hockenheimring".

Hockenheim City Council, which has a 94 per cent stake in the track, announced the withdrawal of its support after last year's race made a loss of €5.3million.

The proposed 2010 race at Hockenheim is expected to have a deficit of around €6m.

Schmidt also described the move by the council to end its dealings with the loss-making track as "counterproductive".

The 2009 German Grand Prix takes place at the Nurburgring next weekend.

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