Zoom A race against time for the new British GP venue

Donington Park has until September to cement a place on the 2010 calendar according to Formula One CEO Bernie Ecclestone.

Organisers of the event are expected to be granted planning permission to commence $150m in necessary upgrades, but the other outstanding consideration is the securing of the actual funding in the midst of a global financial crisis.

"They have a contract with us that I am sure they understand, and I would imagine they have considered the state of the market and have a fall-back position," Ecclestone, who penned the ten-year contract last July, told the Daily Telegraph.

"I am relying on what they told me they will deliver, and we have a September deadline, from memory, to see that all is as it should be. If it is not then we have four or five venues ready to stage a race," he said.

Andrew Hambel, Chief Executive of ISG - the company engaged to structure the seat packages for the 2010 race - admits that the world's current situation is an obstacle for Donington.

"Now is neither the best time to be persuading people to part with money for a new sporting proposition, nor is it the best time to be asking banks to back an offer of this sort," he acknowledged.

"Whether it all stacks up to deliver the kind of financing we need is uncertain, but we would not be devoting the time we are to putting this package together if we were not confident that we can deliver."

E.A, Source: GMM
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