Tycoon owner targets India F1 race

NEW DELHI, India -- Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya said on Monday he was determined to bring a Formula One race to his country after confirming he had bought a 50 percent stake in the Spyker team.

"Owning an F1 team now, I am more than keen to bring it to India," said Mallya, a member of parliament who owns the United Breweries (UB) group and Kingfisher airlines.

Mallya said he and the De Mol family of the Netherlands had formed a consortium, Orange India Holdings, to buy the Spyker team for 80 million euros ($110 million) from Dutch sports car maker Spyker.

"This offer has been accepted by the Board of Spyker and exclusivity has been granted to the consortium to proceed with due diligence," Mallya was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.

Spyker had bought the Midland F1 team in 2006 for 77.8 million euros ($107m), but last week posted losses of 29.9 million euros ($40.7m) for the first quarter.

The struggling Spyker F1 team has yet to score a point in the world championship this season -- and Mallya said the team would be renamed.

"The naming would take some time but I'll try my best to have India somewhere in the name," he said.

"Everything will be done after consultation with the team management.

"We would love to have an Indian driver but it would depend on other issues. We have to arrive at a consensus for that."

The Indian capital of New Delhi has been granted an F1 race in 2009 provided it meets the conditions laid down by racing supremo Bernie Ecclestone.

Ecclestone has often promoted India as one of the future markets for motor sport after home-grown Narain Karthikeyan drove for Jordan in the 2005 season.

Grand Prix circuit designer Hermann Tilke is scheduled to visit New Delhi this week to inspect three sites where a F1 track may be built, Mallya said.

http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2007/SPORT/09/03/motor.spyker/art.mallya.gi.jpg

 

i hope he turns them into a midfield team at least. i miss the old days when Jordan used to challenge for the podium and wins...

 

How to make a small fortune in F1? You start with a big one.

 

Maybe in two years there will be this somewhat similar headline:

"

 

What the article failed to mention is there are a group of other extremely wealthy Indian investors that are in the owners group. Vijay is a former racing driver and has sponsored the Benetton team with M Schumaker and is presently suffering through the Toyota racing program. There will be changes.

Tom S

 

lets hope so..

 

Maybe the team owner Mallya will outsource the race to the United States.

 

Wasn't Schnaider with all his billions supposed to turn Jordan back into race winners? F1 history is littered with wealthy guys buying into the sport with big promises and little results.

This guy is just another dilettante who will desert the sport in two years having blown many millions on his latest "toy".

 

And instead he did what Eddie Jordan did before him: Sell it and walk away with a big profit.

 

I think someone already mentioned it, but again many of you dont know that Mallya was a big sponsor for Micheal back when he was in F3 and in his Bennetton days. I have met Mallya on a few occassions and the man is very passionate about racing, especially F1. Who knows, he could surprise us. With his relationship with Micheal, you may see him as team principal.

 

Best day of his life. Infamous.
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that wasn't Narain. it was that Portuguese driver ( can't recall his name now )

 

That would be Tiago Monteiro. He didn't start racing until he was 21. Luckily for him though, his dad is a wealthy hotel owner, so buying a seat in F3 wasn't a problem.

 

What a great idea!

Let's all spend an arm and a leg for airfare to India to watch an F1 race when we could be spending much less going to Monte Carlo, Spa, Monza, etc!

Better yet, let's have Bernie take a classic race off the calender to make room for this Indian GP!

All is well in F1.

[/ridiculous sarcasm]

 

I think thats why he got rid of the USGP. So he can make room for the Indian GP, more F1 fans in India than the US. Probably make more sense to have there.

 

Exactly

 

Thanks James. he for one, didn't deserve his F1 seat one bit, IMO.

 

India is about 4-5 hours flight away from me. it's home to my grandparents and my ancestors. the stuff are dirt cheap, and there's some beautiful places to visit, i am told.

i hope they will stage a GP by 2010, and aside from Singapore, i'll be looking to go to India over a Gp weekend.

 

And what percentage of those fans are customers of Mercedes, BMW and Ferrari?

 

Well India is becoming an important market for each of those manufacturers. As for Ferrari, buyers in India are willing to pay a premium. Quite a few in India that have high networth and are liquid. Mercedes and BMW have manufacturing facilities in India for the local market. Mercedes builds the S, C, E and the ML class. BMW builds the 3 and 5 series. Ferrari will be there later this year. Right now Ferrari of Singapore has a JV with a local dealership in Bombay.

 

India is the fastest growing economy in the world right now. currently, VW is in talks with Malaysia's car mamufacterer, Proton of a possible partnership. if it fails, i heard that VW will be going into the Indian market then. most Audis, and Vws will be manufactered there.