Despite the Nurburgring’s contract to host a formula one race in 2009, the ‘German grand prix’ moniker is likely to be absent from the calendar next year.
The name is owned and controlled by the AvD (the Automobilclub von Deutschland), which plays host to the sport at Hockenheim in even-numbered years.
The Nurburgring, also located in Germany, last year staged the European grand prix, because the AvD refused to let organisers ADAC (Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club) – a separate and rival club – use the German GP name.
On the recently-published provisional 2009 calendar, the FIA reserved a July 12 race date for ‘Germany’, with the ‘European’ descriptor now being used by Spanish port city Valencia’s new street race.
However, AvD sports president Volker Strycek has suggested that the club is not keen to release the ‘German grand prix’ name for next year’s sole F1 race in the country at the Nurburgring.
“The title is the silverware of the AvD,” he told the German newspaper Cologne Stadt-Anzeiger.
