Zoom Heavy rain under floodlights is not an ideal scenario...

The possibility of a second Formula One night race on the 2010 calendar has stepped up a notch.

Despite Malaysia previously hesitating at the concept of installing expensive floodlighting, the chairman of the Sepang track now admits night racing is not so unappealing.

Officials of the venue near Kuala Lumpur have already expressed concern about the events of last weekend's race, which was curtailed by 24 laps amid torrential rain and fading light.

"After every race, we have discussions with Bernie Ecclestone to see where we can improve," Sepang chairman Datuk Mokhzani Mahathir told the local New Straits Times.

"The question of having the race earlier or at night will be finalised soon," he added.

The 'twilight' concept was agreed as a compromise for 2009, amid pressure from the F1 chief executive for a night race to better serve the bulk European TV audience.

But Mokhzani now sounds open to the idea of full night racing.

"We can recover the cost (of installing floodlights) by renting out the track for other events," he said, although he admitted that night racing would not be a perfect solution for Malaysia.

"There were objections to holding the race at night because they wanted the skyline to be visible during racing," said Mokhzani.

Malaysia's current Grand Prix contract runs until 2015, but Mokhzani suggested the country wants to feature permanently on the F1 calendar.

Crowd numbers in 2009 were significantly down but "this was because of the economic slowdown," he insisted.

© CAPSIS International
Source: GMM