Saturday, 27 December 2014 00:00
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Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone is working to return South Africa to the schedule.
There has not been an F1 race in Africa since the last South African Grand Prix in 1993.
“We’re in the middle of trying to do something in South Africa,” Ecclestone told Russian agency R-Sport. “We used to have a race there and it would be nice to get back there again, to that part of the world.”
A return to South Africa was mooted in 2011 with a possible street circuit in Cape Town, but the city council rejected the idea last year, saying it would be too noisy.
The Kyalami circuit near Johannesburg, which hosted 20 F1 races from 1967 to 1993, was bought by Porsche in July but requires extensive redevelopment to host F1 again.
Besides South Africa, the only other African nation to host the series was Morocco in 1958.
Ecclestone also cast doubt on the viability of plans for a second race in the United States after a planned race in New Jersey was left off the 2015 calendar following disputes between organisers and F1 management.
“The Americans want other races, but I’m not too sure that we do,” he said.
Ecclestone was speaking on a visit to Sochi to receive a government honour. He was presented with the Russian Order of Friendship, a medal given for promoting closer international ties. Sochi hosted the first Russian GP in October.
The 84-year-old this week rejoined the board of the Formula One group which runs the sport this week after stepping down to fight his bribery case in Germany.
Ecclestone went on trial in April on charges of paying a $44 million bribe to a Bavarian state bank executive for help in maintaining his four-decade grip in F1.
In August, he settled the case with a $100 million payment as allowed in German criminal cases if the prosecution, the aggrieved parties and the court agree.
