Abu Dhabi Not Interested in Bulgarian F1 Circuit

Earlier this week, those lobbying for an F1 circuit in Bulgaria announced through several of the countries news agencies that an agreement had been reached with the Emirates Associated Business Group, an Abu Dhabi-owned company, for the funding of the project.

Now, another Bulgarian publication, citing Abu Dhabi officials, says there was no such understanding. To heat up things even more, Bulgarian daily Sega says the Arab officials are so angry with how the matter was originally reported that they will cancel all its other Bulgarian investments.

The chief executive of the Emirates Associated Business Group, Raid Abu Hudra, was quoted as saying that the Bulgarian officials acted so unprofessionally that he will even go as far as advising other Arab funds not to invest in the country.

The Bulgarian F1 circuit has been around in the form of a rumor since September last year, when the country expressed its interest in hosting a Formula 1 race in September last year. Back then, the plan was to schedule the first race for 2011, 2012 at the latest, with the circuit to be located near the capital, Sofia.

The plans were scrapped two months later, when the budget for the track was found to be nonexistent. The track was supposed to be built by the Bulgarian Motorcycling Federation, who had just secured a MotoGP venue, but the economic crisis left the Federation with only the land, and no money.

For the deal with the Arab fund Bulgaria was supposed to chip in the land, while the fund would have provided the money.