MOTORSPORT: Rome won't get a grand prix

While there's a squabble over whether Melbourne should keep its GP, Rome's chances of hosting an F1 race on its streets have been shot

Ecclestone says countries should only have one F1 race
Rome is out of the running to stage a Formula One grand prix on its streets.

Bernie Ecclestone (pictured), who encouraged and entertained the idea for several years, has now told the Italian city that the country -- and indeed any country -- should only have one GP a year.

Mauricio Flammini, organiser of the World Superbike Championship and who had pushed the idea of a GP on the streets of Rome, had hoped that the historic city could at least rotate with Monza, home of the Italian GP in Milan.

For many years Italy's Imola circuit also hosted a San Marino GP, even though it was not in that principality.

Spain has two F1 GPs at the moment, in Barcelona and Valencia -- although the latter's "European' GP probably will rotate around Europe in future.

Rome will now concentrate on a bid for the 2020 Olympic Games.

Marlboro still a Ferrari sponsor
Although tobacco sponsorship is supposed to be long gone from F1, Marlboro and Ferrari are about to finalise renewal of a deal that somehow has continued, although the use of a barcode on the cars -- late alone the Marlboro logo - has been forbidden.

A spokesman for Philip Morris, owner of the Marlboro brand, said an extension of the existing deal to 2014 would be "wholly within international law".

Marlboro has been an F1 sponsor for 40 years, starting with the old British team BRM in 1971.

Williams contemplates stock market float
The Williams team, the third most successful in F1, is considering a stock market float -- although 68-year-old wheelchair-bound Sir Frank Williams wants to remain the majority and controlling shareholder.

The other existing shareholders in the team are Patrick Head, creator of all nine world title-winning Williams cars (most recently in 1997), and Austrian investor Christian "Toto" Wolf.

Sir Frank said he wanted the team to remain an independent constructor but that it was "prudent and necessary to plan" the company's future ownership.

Williams chief executive Adam Parr claimed the team had operated profitably the past three years, contrary to reports that it has only survived due to Bernie Ecclestone's benevolence.

It lost big sponsors RBS and Philips at the end of last season but has gained a reputed $36 million-a-year deal for five years from Venezuelan national energy company PDVSA for installing Venezuelan driver Pastor Maldonado in place of young German star Nico Hulkenberg.

Centenary 'Monte' rally to Peugeot and French driver
The centenary Monte Carlo Rally was won by French rally champion Bryan Bouffier in a Super 2000 Peugeot 207.

Australia's Chris Atkinson did only 700 metres in the event before an electrical fault put his S2000 Proton Satria Neo out.

Despite spinning into a bank at one point, Bouffier's combination of snow and studded tyres gave him the grip to jump from seventh to first when snow coated the roads on the second of the three days.

The event now is the opening round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge rather than part of the World Rally Championship.

Bouffier is the 19th driver to win a round of the IRC since it began in 2007 and it was Peugeot's 21st victory in the series.

Belgian Freddy Loix was second in a Skoda Fabia -- 32.5 seconds behind Bouffier.

Brit Guy Wilks was elevated from fourth to third after a fellow Peugeot 207 driver, Frenchman Stephane Sarrazin, a one-time F1 driver and a Le Mans 24-hour winner, took a time penalty to assist Wilks, who is contesting the whole IRC, unlike Sarrazin.

Defending IRC champion Juho Hanninen of Finland finished sixth in a Skoda after winning three early stages but getting caught on the wrong tyres on the second day.

Veteran Frenchman Francois Delecour was fifth in a Peugeot, while Norway's former world champion Petter Solberg's Peugeot, second at one point, lost seventh place with alternator failure 13km from the finish.



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